The Kogi government says all the contacts of the index cases
of COVID-19 in the state announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC) tested negative for the disease.
Saka Audu, the state commissioner for health, said though
they were tested, the cases are fictitious — raising questions on the
authenticity of the patients’ diagnosis.
In a statement on Saturday, Audu said: “One needs not dig
deeper to see the handwriting clearly written on the wall at how desperate NCDC
is to nail Kogi State with a COVID-19 case and there is no telling how low they
are willing to stoop to do so.
“They claim the patient was positive but hasn’t been taken
to an Isolation centre. As at this moment he is still in the National
Hospital.”
Despite the state government’s denial of the status of
COVID-19 in the state, members of the community where the index cases were
reported had confirmed the infection has “found its way” to their area.
They said the chief imam of Kabba, one of the index COVID-19
cases, never travelled out of Kogi, suggesting he contracted it from within the
state.
The test kits, which the state government said were used to
test the contacts, are not as accurate as tests done in molecular laboratories
certified for COVID-19 testing
‘NCDC REFUSED TO ASSIST US, PATIENT DECLINED TESTING’
Audu said the doctor who first attended to the index case
said he had no “fever, cough or difficulty in breathing … the only complaint
was that of general body weakness”.
“The Doctor had no reason to refer the patient to FMC Lokoja
except on the insistence of the patient because they felt he was not getting
better,” he said, adding: “On reaching FMC on the 24th of May 2020, FMC claimed
the patient was referred to them on account of one week history of fever, cough
and difficulty in breathing with high suspicion of Covid-19, a claim the
referring Doctor has vehemently refuted.”
The commissioner also said the state had attempted to
evacuate the patient at the National Hospital in Abuja and test him using a
private molecular laboratory and the state’s rapid test kits, but “the patient
eventually denied us the opportunity to get it done, siting fear of receiving
punishment from the Federal Government (NCDC)”.
“We also wish to categorically state that though NCDC has
consistently refused to support Kogi State in her fight against Covid-19, WHO
had been part of our team till date,” he said.
“Though NCDC refused to follow their own protocols on
visiting the State, WHO staff who travelled out of our State and returned have
always obeyed the rule of self isolation for 14 days.
“Despite the fact that we do not accept the fictitious
cases, we have gone ahead to do contact tracing to identify all those who came
in contact with them, tested them and they all came back negative. They will be
retested in the next 14 days post first contact.
“The normal NCDC protocol is to collect samples through the
State Ministries of Health where an Epid. form (Epidemiological form) will be
filled by the State epidemiologist and a sample number called an epid number
attached to accompany the sample to the laboratory for onward testing. In this
case, who filled the form? Where is the sample’s Epid. no.? Is it the FCT state
epidemologist that filled the form and took samples at the same time? If that
is the case then they should have recorded the cases for FCT and not bother us
with their ruse.”
He accused the NCDC of “manufacturing fictitious claims and
attaching them to states”, wondering “how eager they are to announce confirmed
cases”.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com