CMD, UUTH, Dr Ememabasi Bassey and Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Abasifreke Effiong
The Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, UUTH, Dr. Ememabasi Bassey has said that more than 50 health care workers in the hospital exposed to COVID-19 were yet to be tested.
Bassey said the Akwa Ibom state was not conducting enough test.
Speaking on Inspiration FM, a radio station in the state over the weekend, the CMD said manpower in the hospital has shrank because the affected staff have gone into self isolation.
Recall that the CMD had said last month there was no case of COVID-19 in the hospital, but the hospital later issued a circular that clinical staff who had contacts with Coronavirus patients in the hospital have absconded from their duty post.
“There are over 50 health care workers in the UUTH including consultant specialists who are exposed to the disease currently in self isolation awaiting testing.”
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“Imagine the man power being wasted. It still brings us round the same circles that we need to scale up testing in the state. If they are tested and they are negative they can return to work and contribute their quota to management of patients”, Bassey said.
A staff of UUTH, Dr. Tiemah Akpabio, was quoted as saying that he has been working alone in the last one week because his colleagues were on self isolation.
“I have worked alone for the past one week because all my team members are on isolation. This is not fair for me nor the patients themselves. I don’t know what to say again. Akwa Ibom state please help us! Or is it some sort of punishment for UUTH health care workers? I don’t understand this politics”
The CMD of the hospital who is an associate professor of said the state government Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said the Akwa Ibom state government was not doing enough to test people who are showing symptoms of Coronavirus.
Medical personnel who are at the forefront of the management of Coronavirus in the state have alleged that there is possible community spread of the virus in the state, but the state was trying to suppress information and testing.
Recently, the state epidemiologist was redeployed for allegedly taking more samples from people who showed symptoms of Coronavirus more than the number the state’s incident officer and commissioner for health ordered.
Bassey has called on the state government to step up testing for the virus.
“In Akwa Ibom we are not testing enough. We need to do more testing because it is when people know they are positive that they can be removed from circulation either by self isolation or be admitted in an isolation center. So the risk of infecting other members of the public is a lot less. It is only when we do so that we can begin to control the epidemic.”
The CMD said UUTH will flag off its isolation and treatment center on Monday May 11, 2020 to complement the efforts of the state government in curbing COVID-19 .
The isolation center has 24 rooms, four suites, an intense care unit and a mini laboratory managed by well trained members of staff, according to Bassey.
