The Gombe State Task Force on COVID-19 has described the protest of coronavirus symptomatic patients that took place in the state on Tuesday as an “emotional protest”.
On Tuesday, May 5th, coronavirus patients in Gombe took the street in protest of the alleged poor condition of the isolation centre in Yamaltu Deba local government area.
Many of them decried the alleged ill-treatment from the COVID-19 task force and the state government.
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It was gathered that nearly 20 patients took over the federal highway linking Gombe State with neighbouring Borno State.
In his reaction, Dr Mohammed Kwami, the State Focal Officer on COVID-19 pandemic Response, in a statement said the protest was not caused by the authorities neglect of the patients, but a misplaced emotional aggression that went out of hand.
He stressed that the task force under the leadership, of Prof. Idris Mohammed, was responsive and proactive in its assignment.
The focal officer explained that a relative of one of the female patients led the protest on allegations of neglect and that they wanted her cured in their village instead of the isolation centre.
Kwami however stated that the patient was admitted to the centre with a wound she got long before she came into Gombe state.
He noted that the task force decided to treat the wound as applied to all isolated patients with underlined ailments irrespective of its relation to COVID-19.
Kwami explained;
Although the patient has the right to choose where to seek for health care service, but taking into consideration the risk of transmitting the COVID-19 in the communities. The task force was reluctant to allow her to be managed at home.
According to him, public health consideration outweighs personal interest in the prevention of the transmission of COVID-19.
He added that the task force had been working assiduously to meet the immediate needs of the patients at the isolation centre, especially food and other essential services.
The focal officer explained;
Medical attention is being given to them with doctors and nurses, in-line with the protocols of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and the task force will not allow self medication at the centre.
It is therefore inaccurate for anybody to claim that patients are being poorly managed.
He also described the protest as a manifestation of the prevailing socioeconomic and psychological challenges as well as the consequences of COVID-19.
Kwami noted that majority of the patients were mostly menial workers who returned from Lagos, Abuja and Kano following the lockdown in those cities.
The official however said, it was disheartening that some of the community members freely mingled with the patients during the protest, but assured that contact tracing had began in the area.
