Health workers under the umbrella of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), have warned that the gradual ease of the lockdown by the federal government beginning from May 4, is premature and could also be suicidal.
The Union made its position known in a statement signed by its President, Obinna Ogbonna and General Secretary, Martin Egbanubi, in Abuja on Sunday.
NUAHP, therefore, insisted that: “As a union with members on the frontlines, we cannot but caution the federal and affected state governments to continue with the lockdown until adequate measures have been taken to contain it.”
While giving reasons why the lockdown should be sustained, the union further warned that: “The nation should not be thrown into an astronomical spread of unimaginable proportion.
“We must not forget the fact that the deficit of health professionals, medical consumables and facilities in our country would not be able to handle whatever upsurge that may arise due to the high incidences, especially the community transmission that is been presently witnessed in some parts of the country.
“We should avoid repeating the initial national mistake of ignoring our call for early stringent measures at all entry points into Nigeria at the onset of this pandemic.”
It, therefore, called on the federal government to immediately reverse the decision to relax the lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State, procurement of more testing kits and centres nationwide, establishment of more isolation centres, strengthening and encouraging research on the development of vaccines and the involvement of more healthcare workers on the frontlines.
It also advocated for the provision of more Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline workers, expansion of testing beyond those who have contact with index cases, immediate deployment of Rapid Response Team (RRT) to support response in all states of the federation, continuous training of frontline health workers and others and the decontamination of most visited public places most especially offices and market places.
The group also called for the provision of more incentives to further motivate the frontline workers, especially those in health sector and security agencies deployment of health workers, who understand viral warfare better, to lead and supervise the security team in the lockdown operation of our various borders and the extension of palliatives to more vulnerable Nigerians.
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