The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kogi State Chapter has lamented that testing for COVID 19 had remained a huge challenge in the state.
The Kogi NMA Chairman, Kabir Zubair, disclosed this on Thursday while reacting to the claim by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that only one sample had been sent to the centre by Kogi state since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
Zubair said the state had recorded a number of suspected cases but such cases could not be ascertained to be positive or negative without tests.
Adding that the challenge of inadequate testing led to agitation from members of Association of Resident Doctors, who claimed they had been receiving suspected coronavirus patients at the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja.
Zubair said: “Although no confirmed case has been reported in the state till date, a number of suspected cases have been attended to at FMC Lokoja and members of ARD are among the first set of people to attend to these patients and as such, they might be exposed to the highly contagious COVID 19.
“The NMA is aware that they have become agitated and apprehensive in the last few months due to the community spread of COVID 19 in Nigeria.
“As a clinician, standard practice demands that the moment you have a clinical suspicion of infectious diseases, the ideal thing is to carry out laboratory confirmation.
“COVID 19 is a highly infectious disease responsible for the ongoing global pandemic. In Nigeria, new cases are reported daily and community spread is accelerating.
“This is the reason why members of ARD are agitated as testing for COVID19 has remained a challenge in the state.”
