Nigerians have accused the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of attending only to the elites for COVID-19 and leaving out others who are not able to explain how they got infected.
The NCDC, on Saturday, via its Twitter handle, @NCDCgov, tweeted the following criteria for testing: “Who can get tested for #COVID19.
1 – Anyone with history of travel outside of Nigeria, who presents with fever, cough or difficulty breathing within 14 days of arrival; 2 – Anyone who comes in contact with a confirmed case who presents with these symptoms within 14 days of contact.”
However, many people who responded to the tweet faulted the criteria as limiting, as it only covered those who traveled and their immediate contacts but not those who could be victims of secondary infections.
One of them, @Herbmer, a corps member serving in a hotel in Kano, said he had symptoms that had defied treatment despite medical attention and needed to be tested.
He tweeted: “I served in a hotel and went to teaching hospital to complain about my symptoms, they treated typhoid and malaria and when the symptoms persisted. I did blood test for malaria and typhoid but I still have (sore throat, severe headache, coughing with high temp).
“Have taken different prescriptions from teaching hospital but nothing changed.
The hotel I worked in always has guests from international countries. And I am getting scared. I’m a serving corps member here. Pls let me do the test to be rest assured of my health status @officialnyscng.
“I called them but they aren’t listening. All they are after is you told them you have a travel history. It (is) then they will take it serious.”
When this reporter sent a direct message to the NCDC, the response was that Abibullahi did not respond to its messages.
The NCDC message reads: “Hello. We wrote him a message but have not heard back. He had not reached out earlier. We are currently reviewing our case definition and will share this with Nigerians.”
However, @Herbmer, whose name is Hammed Abibullahi, told The Nation that the NCDC promised to contact him but did not.
The 2019 Batch C stream I corps member said: “No one! I repeat no one attend to me.
“I called them times without number. All I keep getting is We will contact you soon.
I wouldn’t have been panicking if not for the nature of where I worked/served my PPA is affiliated to an Hotel.
“And the said hotel is a standard hotel here in kano where different nationalities lodge. Who know maybe one of the guests that lodged in here is a carrier and might have return to his country. I used POS here.

By Kofoworola Bello-Osagie