- Says It Leaves State’s Response Coordination In Limbo
Akanimo Kufre (The New Diplomat’s A/Ibom|C/River Correspondent) contributed to this story.
Akwa Ibom state Governor, Udom Emmanuel has been asked to reinstate the purportedly sacked state Epidemiologist, Dr. Aniekeme Uwah who is also heading the state’s Incidence Management Committee on Covid-19.
According to a statement made available to The New Diplomat by the Akwa Ibom State Civil Society Organizations Forum, the purported sack of the Epidemiologist stemmed from his insistence on getting more people in the state tested for the Covid-19 infection.
Akwa Ibom has recorded 11 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus infection, according to figures released on Friday by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
In the statement signed by its Chairman, Harry Udoh Udoh, the group decried the sack by the Commissioner for Health in the state, Dominic Ukpong, saying such action is counter productive to the state’s Covid-19 response coordination.
“The Akwa Ibom State Civil Society Organizations Forum decries the reported sacked of Dr. Aniekeme Uwah, the State Epidemiologist and Lead of the State’s Incidence Management Committee for COVID19 by the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong.
“The forum is shocked that the state could muster the courage to sack the foremost epidemiologist at this critical time, especially with palpable fears among the citizenry that the virus might have spread more the government would want the world to believe.
“Dr. Uwah is reported to have been sacked because he sent more blood samples for testing that the than his immediate boss the Health Commission would have wanted him to. If this report is true, then the decision to sack the lead epidemiologist would a most terrible decision and a disservice to the state.
“Dr Aniekeme Uwah who is a reputed medical professional with wealth of experience in Public Health and expertise in curbing Infectious diseases and highly sought after in Africa, and was recently honored by the African Union for his meritorious service fighting Ebola outbreak in Liberia between 2014 and 2015, and who is currently the Secretary, Common Wealth Medical Association’s Covid 19 Response Committee is an asset to the state.”
The group asked Governor Emmanuel to quickly wade in and ensure the reinstatement of the state’s Epidemiologist to continue to lead the fight against the ravaging virus in the state.
“Akwa Ibom State Civil Society Organizations Forum, hereby calls on the state governor to wade into the matter and reinstate Dr. Aniekeme Uwah. His sack at this time would worsen the already precarious situation caused by this rampaging pandemic.
“Furthermore, if the reason reported for the sack is indeed true, then it raises a lot of questions. Why is the state government intent on reducing the number of people tested? Didn’t the state government put out a release a few days back declaring they were embarking on aggressive testing?
“What is the number of people tested so far? Why is the state government shrouding the management of the COVID19 pandemic in the state in secrecy?
What are they hiding?
“While we leave the state government to provide answers to these questions, we passionately plead with the state governor, His Excellency, Deacon Udom Gabriel Emmanuel to reinstate Dr, Aniekeme Uwah for the good of Akwa ibom state Citizens,” the said.
The New Diplomat recalls health professional groups including the Nigerian Medical Association had recently called for the sack of the Commissioner for Health in Akwa Ibom.
The groups criticized Ukpong leadership style alleging high-handedness, lack of regards to the health professionals and poor inter-personal relationship with professional bodies in the health sector in the state.
