Last week Friday, Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter, Dr Enema Amodu, announced that at least 20 Nigerian doctors have died from complications arising from coronavirus. This is aside from the number of nurses and other health workers who have died from the virus.
Dr Amodu said that the COVID-19 death toll among the medical personnel includes consultants, professors and resident doctors. He painfully noted that the figures keep increasing daily.
Stating that healthcare workers are often at risk of exposure to infections because they are the First Responders to patients, Amodu said: ”For those of us in the health sector, we have lost quite a number of colleagues. Across the country, we have lost not less than 20 doctors in the last one week.”
And the situation is aggravated by the fact that although health workers have been advised to use full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) before attending to patients, many have no access to them. Because of this, over 1,000 health workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nigeria.
As of June 2, Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said that “at least” 812 health workers have tested positive for COVID-19.” And as of July, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that over 10,000 health workers in 40 African countries have been infected with COVID-19 virus.
The situation is aggravated by the ongoing second wave of the pandemic ravaging the world. And it is scary for the health workers as many Nigerians see non-adherence to non-pharmaceutical measures put in place to curtail the spread of the virus as normal.
The citizens have all gone back to the old ways of doing things except when they are visiting COVID-19 protocol mandatory government establishments and public institutions like banks.
The federal government has already attributed the outbreak of the second wave of the pandemic in Nigeria to the constant breaching of government-enforced COVID-19 safety and testing protocols by passengers travelling in and out of the country.
To help curtail the spread, the federal government has ordered the immediate closure of bars, nightclubs and restaurants across the country while limiting the attendance at weddings, conferences or other public gatherings to 50 persons per event.
As the first step to protecting the nation’s health workers, the government should start a new enlightenment programme to ensure that patients do not hide their past medical conditions to health workers.
In addition, patients must reveal their medical history and travels and enforce all COVID-19 protocols including wearing of facemasks and practising social distancing as a lifestyle.
And as Nigeria is set to receive at least 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech approved COVID-19 vaccines by the end of this month, priority should be given to the front line health workers as they play strategic leadership roles as First Responders to even the most susceptible to the virus especially the elderly and those with co-morbidities.
With the further free delivery of 42 million doses of the vaccines in the second phase through the COVAX facility, an initiative run by the vaccine alliance, GAVI, to ensure equitable access to a COVID vaccine, health workers should also be given priority.
On Tuesday, the federal government added to the need for urgent protection of health workers as it raised alarm at the rising cases of the virus among medical personnel.
Calling for vigilance among Nigerians, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, pledged the government’s escalation of vigilance and implementation of risk communication among the citizens and the creation of community awareness in order to reduce the share of COVID-19 doubters among the population.
In addition, the installation of more testing and protective equipment and supplies should be intensified. Most importantly, there should be full implementation of all measures that would help stem the spread of the virus.
Also, the full protective kitting of all health workers would give them the confidence to execute their duties diligently, without fear of infections.
