The minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has commiserated with the Guild of Medical Practitioners (GMD), saying Lagos State suffered the double impact of being the most severely affected by COVID-19 pandemic and the #EndSARS protest.Commending the Lagos team, Ehanire hailed the quality of the public health response and smoothness of the coordination between public and private entities, along with the astounding leadership of the state’s commissioner for Health.
He said: “The unfortunate occurrences and disruptions, and their consequences that have left our country in awe, and almost made us forget that we are, at this time and like many countries in the world, still battling the invisible enemy called COVID-19 pandemic. I particularly sympathize with anyone who may have suffered personal or business losses due to this incident. I pray it goes away so that we can face the process of healing and rebuilding, with the help of lessons learned.’’
The minister said a national post-COVID-19 sustainability plan has been developed to guide our return to normalcy and ensure that all sectors, especially the health sector, are better strengthened.
‘’I urge you all to embrace the many opportunities availed us as a byproduct of covid19 assault, to join in the rebuilding and modernization effort of our Health system, from your vantage point. The financial facilities made available to the private Health sector by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should be explored. The pharmaceutical industry has started well in that regard,’’ he said.
On his part, the president of GMD, Prof Femi Babalola, said the year has been extremely challenging for all Nigerians, ”especially for those of us in private practice.”
He said on top of the usual challenges of running our practices in a harsh economic climate, they have also had to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and all.
‘’We all find ourselves in the frontline of health care, daily exposing ourselves to the possibility of infection while attending to our patients. And in spite of these dangers, we have soldiered on with very little support from outside our efforts. Indeed, we have lost some of our members to the COVID-19 crises, including Prof Lovett Lawson of Zankli hospital, Abuja, and Dr Bello Katagum of NIIMA hospital, Bauchi. This list is not exhaustive.
‘’Several of our colleagues in the nursing and paramedical professions have also paid the ultimate price. It is estimated that about 2,500 health workers have been infected with the disease out of a total of 60,000 infections nationwide,’’ he added.
source: Leadership
