Private medical practitioners are insisting that to control spread of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, government must as a matter of urgency involve private hospitals in treatment of the disease.
Dr. Christopher Otabor, a consultant surgeon, Prof. Olufemi Dokun-Babalola, president, Guild of Medical Directors, Dr. Abimbola Silva, member, Guild of Medical Directors, had on Thursday, in a media forum, maintained that COVID-19 had passed the level of prevention in the country.
They stressed that there had been breach in the preventive measure as some people must have escaped unnoticed and mixed up in the larger society.
The health experts were of the view that 60 percent of patients would always make private hospitals their first point of call, suggesting that the Federal Government should build isolation centres very close to private hospitals, identify some private hospitals they could collaborate with, to avoid a situation where COVID-19 patients would infect other people while they wait for response from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
Silva said: “We are required to screen, notify NCDC, which will pick up samples and get back to us within 24 hours. But, you know that within that period, patients can infect other people. It would be good idea to have isolation centres within the private facilities for effective control.”
Prof. Babalola maintained government should kit the private hospitals, ensure they have isolation centres around them before control would be effective, stressing that the protocols of taking samples for testing would remain cumbersome, if government failed to identify private hospitals to collaborate with.
He said in case of crisis, the government hospitals would be overwhelmed.
Dokun-Babalola said: “Unless there is synergy, we can’t cope with COVID-19, because we don’t have information, and we don’t know how to handle the cases. It is worthy to note that before cases get to public hospitals, they would have first got to private hospitals.
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“Not every private hospital has the capacity to build isolation centre. I don’t want to say that Nigeria is not ready for the crisis, but government must as a matter of urgency seek collaboration with private hospitals for the fight and treatment of the disease to be effective.”
Itabor said that because preventive measure had been breached, government should engage stakeholders.
According to him, “We have passed the stage of prevention now. How many people can be kept in ventilators in case of crisis? Private hospitals must be involved in the treatment of COVID-19 for it to be effective.
“If Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made some grant available, I am sure the fund is for the private hospitals, so that fund should be easily accessible to private hospitals.”
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health on his part said that government was ready, stressing that Federal Government was already synergising with state ministries of health and teaching hospitals.
He stressed that government had made funds and shopping list available and that situations would be responded to as they arose.
Meanwhile some dedicated lines, which included, 08000corona, 08023169485 and 08033565529 had been made available to the general public, to report cases of the disease.
