The Federal Government has banned inter-state movement of Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in the country.
Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, said this on Wednesday in Abuja,
at the Presidential Taskforce (PTF), briefing on COVID-19, NAN reports.
Ehanire said that all persons diagnosed with the virus would
henceforth be treated in the state where their diagnosis was made to
avoid further spread of infection.
He stated that Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) and
Pharmacists should refrain from attempting to treat COVID-19 patients,
otherwise their operating licenses would be revoked.
He noted that the Federal Ministry of Health has deployed the Chief
Consultant Epidemiologist, Public Health Department of Kano state and 16
staff of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to Kano state to
carry out investigations on the recent number of deaths in the state as
well identify the peculiarities.
The minister stated that private hospitals desiring to manage
COVID-19 patients should apply to their State Ministries of Health for
permit, meet the Infection Prevention and Control standards and get
accredited by the state accreditation team in line with FMOH guidelines.
Ehanire stressed that those with existing medical conditions like
diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, TB, HIV, cancer; should take
special care and also obey the instructions on taking special care.
“Government is interested in remedies that are being proposed. The
Ministry of Health has a department for ‘Traditional, Complementary and
Alternative Medicine’, so anything that is thought to have efficacy
should be brought forward.
“Now we are in the community transmission phase and we have passed
that era when people think that COVID-19 was something for big men and
women who came from abroad.
“Now that it is in the grassroots, the role of the Primary Healthcare
now comes to play and it is very important for them to do the
surveillance to raise the index of suspicion,” he said.