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Govt to license private hospitals to treat COVID-19
The Federal Government on Wednesday said it would give license to some private hospitals in the country to treat COVID-19 patients in order to improve the nation’s response to the global pandemic.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, disclosed this at the briefing by the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 in Abuja.
According to Mamora, government is not just relying on public health institutions, adding that the process of accreditation for private hospitals would be done, where it is established that they have the facilities for prevention, control and necessary personnel.
“We are engaging Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria and the Guild of Medical Directors.”
The minister also advised that those who tested positive for COVID-19 should report to designated treatment centres for safe isolation.
Read also: $6.9BN LOAN: Buhari’s govt using COVID-19 to make more money for itself —PDP
This, he said, was because the danger of the disease was that those who did not have any symptom could infect others, while also appealing to health facilities not to reject patients without giving them advice on what to do on laid down guidelines by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
He stated: “Additionally, all health facilities are reminded that coronavirus is an extremely dangerous pathogen which spreads very easily. It is not advisable to accept a person suspected of such infection for treatment if the facility is not accredited.”
Speaking on claims by the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde of local remedies for the virus, Mamora said he was not aware of the claim.
“We do know that since this COVID-19 outbreak came, I have got a lot of telephone calls from various people laying claims to having some remedies.
“We have in the Ministry of Health, the Department of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I referred those people to the department. In collaboration with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, a kind of assessment was done and there is a protocol for clinical trial.”
He insisted that such claims must go through the protocol of clinical trial.
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