The President, National Association of Resident Doctors,\nDr Aliyu Sokomba, tells TUNDE AJAJA the other areas government needs to address\nwhile fighting the coronavirus disease<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coronavirus disease keeps spreading to more states\ndespite the efforts of government. Is there more government could do to contain\nits spread?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talking about the spread of the disease, so far we have\nrecorded 305 cases across Nigeria. If the figures are anything to go by, I\nthink the response against the virus is yielding positive result, going by the\nprojection that was initially made known to us. We had expected the cases to\nhave risen way above what we have at the moment, but I think the government can\ndo more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What areas do you think should be improved upon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nDr Aliyu Sokomba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
One of them is the provision of the necessary protective\nequipment for those frontline health care workers that are offering their\nservices to make sure the disease is contained. They need to be protected. At\nthe moment, we do not have adequate personal protective equipment for those\nCOVID-19 health care providers and that has continued to serve as a major\nsetback for winning the fight against COVID-19 disease in Nigeria. Secondly, I\nthink there is a need to motivate the people providing these services and this\ncan be achieved if the government decides to provide some form of insurance for\nthem. This insurance should be in place should any health care provider die\nwhile on duty. You would agree with me that this will further motivate them to\ndo the best they can. People may not want to offer their best knowing that\nshould they die from the disease their family would be left with nothing. So,\ninsurance is important. The current hazard allowance doctors get now is N5,000\nper month and we all know it should be reviewed. The Federal Government had\nindicated interest to review the hazard allowance and procure life insurance\nfor doctors and other front line health care providers, but this has continued\nto remain an intention. We hope they would do what is required of them to get\nthat to a logical conclusion now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The effectiveness of government\u2019s palliatives has become\na matter of debate, what is your view?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think ensuring that the palliatives they are giving to\nNigerians get to those they are intended for is one other thing government can\ndo to make the fight against the virus more effective. On Tuesday, the leadership\nof the National Assembly expressed concern over the way and manner the Social\nInvestment Programme was being implemented, and the Speaker of the House of\nRepresentatives (Femi Gbajabiamiala) was asking specific questions as to the\nsource of the list being used, the geographical coverage and how the list was\narrived at and so on. So, if this form of palliative doesn\u2019t get to the\nNigerians who need them, it will become more and more difficult for them to\ncomply with the stay-at-home directive, which is one single important tool we\nhave at our disposal to contain the spread of this disease. I think the\ngovernment needs to take it very seriously and implement it rightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
From available indices, can we say we are approaching the\nend of this pandemic or the days ahead might be tougher?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the pandemic lasts, we can only hope for the best and\nexpect the worst. For now, I think what is needed is for us to do our best. We\nneed to put up measures should it escalate beyond what it is now. There is need\nto have more isolation centres prepared in case there is a surge. So, whether\nwe should brace for worse days ahead, what is most important is for us to\ncontinue to play our part to see that it is contained and with God on our side,\nthe disease would be contained in the shortest time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it escalates, can our current preparedness manage the\nsituation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, the Nigerian health system is not prepared to\nhandle community transmission. That is why we are praying this thing does not\nget out of hand. The health system has been abandoned for decades, so this is\nthe result. Therefore, you do not expect a system that has not received\nsignificant capital input to give you such an output when the ships are down.\nI\u2019m hoping and praying that it doesn\u2019t get out of hands and I\u2019m also hoping\nthat the stakeholders would consider this an opportunity to retrace their\nsteps, do what is needed and strengthen the health system to offer quality\nhealth care service to Nigerians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Government had earlier released about N15bn\ncoupled with the billions donated by generous individuals and corporate bodies,\nyet government has approached the International Monetary Fund for a loan of\n$6.9bn to combat the impact of the virus on the economy. Do we need to throw\nmore money at the problem or we can do some things differently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, we have received so much money in donations for the\nfight against COVID-19 but ironically, we have not seen any changes in our\nhospitals. The last time I asked, no money has been released to hospitals for\nthe fight against COVID-19, so it calls to question what the money is meant\nfor. We are also worried, but we are watching as events unfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NARD has been talking about insurance for health workers\nfor long. How urgent is it at this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a matter that should warrant us shutting down the\nhospitals, but because of the outbreak, it is not appropriate to do that now.\nOtherwise, nobody needs a soothsayer to know that health care workers should be\ninsured. Do we have to shut down the system before government realises that\nthis is a matter of urgency? Before COVID-19 came, Lassa fever killed six\ndoctors in 12 weeks and I can tell you that a lot of doctors have lost their\nlives in the course of offering their services to patients and humanity.\nActually, the best time to do it was yesterday but the next best time to do it\nis now. This is the time to get all health care workers insured. We don\u2019t have\nto say it before government realises that there is need for that to be done.\nIt\u2019s very embarrassing that we have to get to this point. Life insurance for\nhealth care workers is something that should be taken with utmost seriousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does your association have a policy sum it\u2019s proposing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the past, government had already made provision for life\ninsurance. It was just bastardised along the way. If you check the Pension\nReform Act of 2014, which repealed the 2004 Act, it is stated that all\nemployers, not just of health workers, that have more than 10 employees should\ninsure their employees to the tune of three times their total annual emolument.\nThat provision was made by government itself and we didn\u2019t even advocate for\nit. It seems that was done when government still had focus and foresight. It is\na law. The law maintained that life insurance should be procured for all\nworkers, not just health workers, but that has not seen the light of day.\nTherefore, if the government really wants to do it, that was something we had\nproposed in the past and that is a good place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Apart from the raging COVID-19, Nigeria is dealing with\nLassa fever, are we giving it the attention it deserves?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, at the moment, we are battling two outbreaks;\nLassa fever outbreak, which started sometime in January, and COVID-19, which\nwas discovered in Nigeria in February. It might interest you to know that Lassa\nfever has killed 185 people and has affected 951 persons. So far, coronavirus\nhas killed seven persons while about 305 persons have been infected. Lassa\nfever has 19.5 per cent case fatality, which means that for every 100 persons\nthat have Lassa fever, about 20 of them will die. Coronavirus has a case\nfatality of two per cent, which means that for every 100 persons that have the\nvirus, two of them will die. By all standards, Lassa fever in Nigeria should be\ngetting more attention, going by the case fatality and the deaths recorded so\nfar. But you know how it is in Nigeria. The reason the world is talking about\ncoronavirus is because in their own case, they do not have a more dangerous and\nvirulent disease they are battling with. Therefore, they are talking about the\none they have and we are following the trend, abandoning the Lassa fever that\nhas been killing us before now. Apart from the government not paying attention\nto Lassa fever, even the media has abandoned it. So, while we battle COVID-19,\nwe have to pay attention to other diseases killing our people. I\u2019m not saying\nCOVID-19 should be abandoned, I\u2019m only saying we need to also pay attention to\nother diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the tilted attention to coronavirus is because of the way COVID-19 is transmitted.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lassa fever is also widely transmitted as much as COVID-19.\nThough COVID-19 spreads by droplets, Lassa fever spreads by contacts. There is\nvirtually little to no difference. If you come in contact with someone with\nLassa fever, there is a chance that you would have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your association initially opposed the coming of the\nChinese health workers, but you seem to have changed your stand. What changed?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our objection to the coming of the Chinese wasn\u2019t emotional;\nit was based on facts and realities. Our insistence on the government not\nallowing the Chinese to come was based on the fact that they were coming\nwithout the requisite training and licence to practice in this country and the\ngovernment was going to take the responsibility for their accommodation, their\nflight and other things, exhausting the little resources we have, while we the\npeople who have been battling with the disease before now would be abandoned.\nWe have several problems that have remained unattended to. But the government\ncame out to say the Chinese were not\ncoming to the country to treat patients, which addressed the problem of\nlicensing. Also, the government clarified that the Chinese would be quarantined\nfor 14 days, which addressed the question about their own status. Most\nimportantly, the government has clarified that they (the Chinese) are coming to\ninstall some ventilators and share experience. So, if what government say they\nare coming to do is anything to go by, then, we have no objection to it. We\nwere concerned about the service they were coming to offer to Nigerians and the\nimplication of that, but since that has been clarified, we do not have any\nobjection to their coming any further. All these would have been avoided if the\ngovernment had carried us along from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGeographical distribution of Lassa Fever<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Some states don\u2019t seem to be fully prepared for this and\nin a particular state, Lassa fever patients and COVID-19 patients are said to\nbe kept in the same place. If you have to assess the preparedness of states\napart from those that already have cases, are we fully prepared?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before now, we have said that the health care system is very\nweak and this is largely attributed to the fact that it does not receive the\nsufficient funds it requires. In 2001, the World Health Organisation\nrecommended that 15 per cent of the national budget should be allotted to\nhealth and it\u2019s for days like this. It\u2019s not when you have an outbreak that you\nstart running helter-skelter. The Nigerian system is not prepared for anything.\nThe system is very weak and our hospitals are glorified clinics. So, it\u2019s not\nsurprising that a state is compelled to combine Lassa fever patients and\nCOVID-19 patients because they do not have adequate preparation, space and\nwards for them to be separated. All these are things we have to look into by\nthe time the COVID-19 is over. We need to strengthen the health care system and\nput it back on track for it to be able to render effective and efficient health\ncare to Nigerians. Even the State House Hospital that has gulped over N13bn in\nfive years, if the report we are getting is anything to go by, is just a\nglorified clinic. We don\u2019t seem to be serious. I hope this COVID-19 would make\nus to reposition the health sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is there likelihood that the vaccine for the virus, which\nthe world is waiting for, could come from Nigeria, given the number of\nscientists we have, the clinical trial that Lagos State wants to start and the\npotential of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researches are very expensive, especially for a country like\nours that cannot afford certain basic equipment for the front-line health care\nproviders. I think the country does not have the capacity to fund any such\nresearch. Though, I have heard that some clinical trial research is going on\nusing chloroquine, but we don\u2019t have government\u2019s willingness to invest in\nresearch. Until that is done, we have to wait for the research to be done\nelsewhere and then we can benefit from the outcome of such research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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