NCDC denies knowledge of Control of Infectious Disease Bill

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday denied having a prior knowledge of the Control of Infectious Disease Bill that is currently before the House of Representatives.

The Director General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu who disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force briefing in Abuja on Thursday, added however, that the agency intended to work with the lawmakers on the bill.

It would be recalled that a Bill for an Act to repeal the Quarantine Act and enact the Control of Infectious Diseases Act passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

Sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, the bill sought to empower NCDC and make it more proactive.

Ihekweazu said: “I saw the bill like you all did on social media. I think the House of Representative members are doing their best to come up with solutions – new laws; so, I take it positively.

“Of course, the bill requires more consultation. I am personally not in favour of drafting a bill in the middle of a crisis.

“Let’s get out of crisis and then use the momentum to engage all stakeholders to come up with a bill that will serve us now and for the future,” he advised.

Speaking on molecular laboratories, Ihekweazu said that the NCDC’s goal was to have such a laboratory operating in the 36 states of the federation.

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According to him, the NCDC approach was that of a hub-and-spoke that would have a national reference laboratory in Abuja as the hub – organising the supply chain, data, information technology support – connected to all the other laboratories in the country.

Ihekweazu said that the agency wanted each molecular laboratory in Nigeria to be able to diagnose any significant infectious disease.

“Nigeria now has 3,500 bed spaces for COVID-19 across the country, but in Lagos, we are already struggling.

“We are going to work with them to make more spaces available. We may also have to start considering home care in certain circumstances,” he said.

Ihekweazu further stated that NCDC’s response strategy was adaptive to local contexts in each state and each community of the country.

He said that it had become clear that there was community transmission in Lagos, Kano and Abuja.

“This is why we are taking testing to communities and health facilities in these places,” he said.

The NCDC boss also said that the agency’s team was responding in Kano to improve on the fight against the pandemic, adding that the agency now has two laboratories functioning, and a third one is in the pipeline.

He said that Nigerians needed to support health workers and not stigmatising the communities where they worked.

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