By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Chief Medical Director of Calabar Teaching Hospital(UCTH), Ikpeme Ikpeme has said five patients ested positive for COVID-19 in the hospital.
Cross River is the only state where any case of COVID-19 has not been officially confirmed in the country.
In a memo released on Friday, the medical director said two of the patients are workers in the hospital.
He said the tests were performed using the PCR technique at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) accredited laboratory in Ebonyi state.
“The Management of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital wishes to inform her staff and patients that Covid-19 tests performed on 5 samples from our hospital returned positive. Two of these samples came from our medical staff,” Ikpeme said.
He, however added that “the staff have made tremendous progress along the path of recovery”
“These staff have since made tremendous progress along the path of recovery and are doing well. The tests were performed using the PCR Technique at the NCDC Accredited Laboratory located at Alex Ekweme University Teaching Hospital, Abakiliki. Management has duly informed the Cross River State government and other agencies of government.
“We wish to reassure our staff and patients that a positive Covid-19 test is neither a ”death sentence” nor a reason for any type of fear or stigmatization. As stated above, our medical personnel have recovered. We urge all staff and patients to abide by the guidelines on hand and respiratory hygiene as amused by the State and Federal Governments through their various agencies, especially The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC). There is absolutely no reason for panic or furore.”
Meanwhile, the state commissioner of information, Asu Okang, dismissed the hospital’s memo as “desperate attempts by mischief makers to ensure that the state records a case of COVID-19”.
“No hospital is empowered to announce cases of pandemic in the country asides the NCDC. So if a hospital uses one test kit and says we have COVID19 does not mean anything,” Mr Okang said on Friday.
“The point is that the NCDC is the body required to reflect cases of COVID-19 and announce it to members of the public. Not one small lab technician trying to assert their egos and hatch their mischief on the grounds of what they think and their state of mind could through an internal memo.
“Like you said it is an internal memo so if it becomes an external memo we would respond to the teaching hospital. For now, we want to believe it’s an internal memo and we will treat it as such,” he noted.
Recall the Cross Rivers State government had alleged that the Federal Ministry of Health was planning to import infected samples of COVID-19 into the state.
The state government had added that the purported positive test samples would be sent to the state through the Nigerian Navy Hospital.
