Nigeria Cannot Withstand Coronavirus Epidemic – NMA

President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Francis Faduyile, has berated Nigeria’s preparedness for Coronavirus epidemic in the country, saying the health system of the country was fragile and would not be able to contain the outbreak of the virus.

Faduyile, who spoke with THE WHISTLER on Wednesday after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) confirmed five new cases in the country, said the federal government was not doing enough to contain the spread of the virus which first broke out in Wuhan, China.

The Federal Ministry of Health on Wednesday confirmed five new cases of Coronavirus in the country, bringing the total number to eight.

The federal government had also placed a travel ban on countries with over 1,000 cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

But the NMA president said the measures were not enough as the association expected the government to have stopped all flights coming from countries with the virus.

“I think the government is just trying to play safe and I don’t know whose interest they are protecting.

“They are suggesting that people should self-isolate but what do we have in place to ensure that people self-isolate? It is very unfortunate that our government is not doing what we expect them to do in terms of protecting the lives of people,” he lamented.

He said further that there was a need for stricter precautionary measures, saying hospitals in the country do not have ventilators and other gadgets while there were not enough isolation centres on ground to battle the outbreak.

“It is difficult for anyone to know the state of coronavirus infestations. if someone has been in this country since 13th March and it is being diagnosed by 19th, we don’t know how many people that may have been infected.

“So, stopping gathering of people should be the next step, as early as possible otherwise if it gets out of hand Nigeria will be doomed by the impact of the pandemic,” he warned.

Meanwhile, the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Abuja chapter, announced on Tuesday that they are proceeding on an indefinite strike, this was few hours after Nigeria recorded its third coronavirus case,