Nurses in one of the Covid-19 treatment centers at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH in Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, have literally abandoned 19, Coronavirus patients, under their care.
Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, JUTH Branch, Mercy Lenka, while confirming the development to ait.live blamed the Government for their action. She said they were constrained to withdraw their services at the Treatment Centre in order to save the lives of their members and others from being infected with the virus.
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Lenka explained that nurses treating Covid-19 patients are not suppose to go back to their families after coming in contact with the patients. The Government is to provide a hotel or any other accommodation for the health workers while they are on duty and they are supposed to remain there for 14 days, while samples will be collected and when they test negative such workers can reunite with their families, but the Government has failed to do so.
Lenka said, “Yes, we have asked our members to withdraw their services at the JUTH… Ideally, when you are involved in the treatment of confirmed cases of COVID-19, you are not supposed to go back home and mingle with your family members or anyone else”.
Reacting to the development, Chief Medical Director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, Professor Edmund Banwat has described as unfortunate the directive by the local chapter of the nurses union that its members should sit at home as a result of what it termed Management negligence of those working at the COVID-19 Treatment Centre.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)