The Chief Medical Director (CMD) Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia, Dr. Hassan Ikrama, Friday, appealed to the association of residents doctors to have a dialogue with its management on their position to close down the hospital in the midst of the second wave of COVID -19.
Dr. Ikrama said the second wave of the pandemic which was more infectious and needed concerted effort to tackle, adding that calling for the closure of the hospital would result to high mortality rate in the state.
“All we are saying is that let us sit down and talk things out. If three persons happen to test positive in a particular department, what is the justification for closing down other departments that have no single person who tested positive,” he said.
He said it was the responsibility of the management of the hospital to protect its staff by providing all the necessary tools for them to work as well as ensuring that they were protected.
The CMD added that since personal protective equipment have been provided by the hospital, the closure of service delivery by resident doctors in the midst of second wave of the pandemic had no rational and scientific basis, and was therefore unacceptable.
“We have asked the clinics not to allow patients to come at the same time. If for instance you want to attend to 40 patients in a day, you will ask 10 person to come at a particular hour, and another 10 persons to come at another hour with their face masks on,” he added.
“All these are ways of maintaining physical distancing geared towards protecting the patients and the workers in the hospital.
“Our responsibility as a management of the hospital is to first and foremost ensure that all our staff are protected in the course of discharging their duties.”
Dr. Ikrama debunked the allegations by the association that about 35 doctors tested positive for COVID – 19, saying only 15 doctors out of 139 in the hospital tested positive to the virus.
The association of resident doctors in Nasarawa state had on Thursday called for downscaling of services in all the departments due to high rate of infection among health workers in the facility.
