Nigerian govt bans inter-state movement of COVID-19 patients

The Federal Government Wednesday banned inter-state movement of COVID-19 patients in the country.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.

Ehanire said all persons diagnosed with the virus would henceforth be treated in the state where their diagnosis was made to avoid further spread of the disease.

He stated that Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) and Pharmacists should refrain from attempting to treat COVID-19 patients, otherwise their operating licences would be revoked.

He noted that Federal Ministry of Health has deployed the Chief Consultant Epidemiologist, Public Health Department of Kano State and 16 staff of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to Kano State to carry out investigations on the recent number of deaths in the state as well as identify the peculiarities.

The minister said private hospitals desiring to manage COVID-19 patients should apply to their state ministries of health for a permit, meet the Infection Prevention and Control standards and get accredited by the state accreditation team in line with FMOH guidelines.

Ehanire stressed that those with existing medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, tuberculosis, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and cancer; should take special care and also obey the instructions on such ailments.

“The government is interested in remedies that are being proposed. The Ministry of Health has a department for ‘Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine’, so anything that is thought to have efficacy should be brought forward.

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“Now we are in the community transmission phase and we have passed that era when people think that COVID-19 was something for big men and women who came from abroad,” the minister concluded.

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