No fewer than 20 Nigerian medical doctors died within one week from COVID-19 because infected patients did not disclose their status.
Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Abuja, Dr Job Enema Amodu, disclosed this Friday at a briefing.
He said the fatalities were recorded all over the country.
In December, a total of 70 deaths have been recorded by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as COVID-19 related.
Amodu advised patients visiting clinics and hospitals to declare their true health status to avoid exposing doctors and other health workers to the risk of disease infection.
“For those of us in the health sector, we have lost quite a number of colleagues in the last one week alone. Across the country, we have lost not less than 20 doctors in the last one week.”
“We also want to use this opportunity to talk to our patients; as you come to us in the hospitals, in the clinics, please oblige us.
“Wear your mask. Tell us the truth about your past medical condition and don’t hold any information back,” he added.
“I am the Chairman of NMA, FCT and by the special grace of God, I am standing here today as a survivor because I inadvertently saw a patient that I didn’t know had COVID-19 and she didn’t tell me, and she knew.
“I was exposed, I contacted the virus, I developed symptoms but by the grace of God, my colleagues rallied around me and I survived,” he revealed.
“This second wave is so overwhelming; this second wave is more catastrophic, and this probably would be because a lot of people have gone back to the way of doing things.
“They have thought that the virus is over, it has come, and it is gone, and they have let their guards down.”
