COVID-19: Kyari Died in Private Hospital in Country of Double Standards

COVID-19: Kyari Died in Private Hospital in Country of Double Standards

Double Standards: Kyari Died of COVID-19 in Nigerian Private Hospital

Nigeria’s Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 has been mouthing that cases of Coronavirus should not be entertained in private health facilities even General Hospitals that are not accredited to handle them. But those announcements are just for formality sake.

This newspaper can report that just like Abba Kyari, the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, received COVID-19 treatment in a private hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, many influential Nigerians who have been tested positive to COVID-19 are receiving treatments in private facilities including their homes.

Medical sources revealed that some well-to-do Nigerians have turned their homes into isolation centers and are receiving medical care from their homes.

“Yes, Abba Kyari died in a private hospital here in Lagos. That is not the only case. A good number of COVID-19 patients are in private facilities including their private homes”, a medical doctor who doesn’t want to be named said.

He noted further: “I agree with you that this a case of double standard. When you make laws and you are the first to break them, it is double standards. If the government is certain that COVID-19 should not be treated in private facilities, that measure should be applied strictly and everyone should be made to undergo the same measures. But this is not the case here. It is unfortunate still that Kyari could not make it even from the private hospital”.

The Nigeria Medical Association, Lagos chapter, has warned that there could be an explosion in the number of infections in the state and the country at large if private hospital continued to treat Coronavirus patients.

In a statement signed by Saliu Oseni and Moronkola Ramon, Chairman and Secretary respectively, the Lagos NMA said, “A disturbing trend in the private management of COVID-19 cases in private hospitals where capacity for infection control and surveillance may be limited.

“This action is likely to be the missing link to the worsening community transmission.”