One of the doctors on the frontlines of Nigeria’s coronavirus response, Dr Bella Nifemi, has alleged that some of her colleagues are being lured into the private homes of well-heeled Covid-19 patients for bigger pay days.
On Wednesday, April 15, 2020, the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) announced the death of a doctor who contracted the virus after treating a Covid-19 patient privately.
“He was a private medical practitioner who was exposed to a confirmed case of Covid-19. We condole with his family and the medical community for this painful loss,” the NMA wrote.
Dr. Nifemi, who has been tending to Covid-19 patients at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba, Lagos, advised her colleagues to stop risking their lives by managing patients away from the government’s approved medical facilities.
“Dear fellow colleagues, how much is your life worth? Why are you suddenly carried away with the offer these big men are offering you to come home and treat them for Covid-19 because they don’t want the public to know?” Nifemi queried.
“A doctor who is a known asthmatic patient died because he was attending to a confirmed Covid-19 positive patient as a private client at home. Another one is on admission…the client he was attending to as a private practice died this morning.
“Don’t sabotage the effort of our dearest governor in Lagos as we #FlattenTheCurve to beat #CoranaVirusInNigeria,” she added.
Lagos is the epicenter of Nigeria’s coronavirus outbreak with 232 of Nigeria’s currently confirmed 407 cases.
128 patients have recovered from the virus nationwide, 85 of those in Lagos.
There have been 12 Covid-19 fatalities nationwide as of April 15.
Source: Pulse Nigeria
