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Okwe Obi, Abuja
Association of Radiologists in Nigeria (ARIN) has warned that second wave of COVID-19 lockdown is imminent because of rising cases in the past weeks.
Dr Ohikhoakhai Wellington, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chairman, made the disclosure at an event to mark the 2020 International Day of Radiology (IDoR in Abuja, yesterday.
The day has the theme, “The Radiologists and Radiographers; Supporting Patients During COVID-19 Pandemic.
He noted that contrary to belief that confirmed cases of COVID-19 was going down, there had been a spike in the rise of the pandemic in the last few weeks.
“Statistically, recorded cases were going down and it actually got to a level where they thought it was going away, but it has increased in the last few weeks.
“This is as a result of the relaxation of the lockdown especially in the airspace. The borders here are free, people are now coming freely into our country from all over the world, but we hope that at the borders, we will be strong enough to strictly check people coming in,” he said.
Wellington said those coming into the country from abroad should be made to go into isolation before getting access into the society.
This, the chairman said, was critical to prevent a second phase of lockdown.
According to him, 2020 has been termed a year of pandemic because of COVID-19 and its devastating effects in communities, economy and humanity.
Wellington noted that the virus had affected some parts of the body, especially the chest where X-ray was mainly important and the country.
He added that during the process of finding out much on the pandemic, three Radiologists lost their lives.
“We have a report of 49.9 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide and 1.25 million deaths. In Nigeria, above 63,800 reported cases with 1,155 deaths, these deaths include several health workers both home and abroad.
“The enormity of the effect of the pandemic has in many ways broken some of the many unnecessary man made barriers that have held us apart, “ he said.
Wellington said the health personnel were still confronted by myriads of challenges in providing support to patients.
Mr Isaac Udu, Director of Radiography, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, said as one of the hospitals managing COVID-19 patients, the hospital was confronted with many challenges.
This, he said, was particularly with regard to carrying out X-ray on some of the patients as some patients came in very sick making it difficult for them to cooperate when carrying out X-ray on them.
“Another challenge is that the space is built with small bed spaces and moving in patients and machines becomes difficult to get in to capture imaging needed, some of these patients are on ventilators,’’ Udu said.
He further added that, in spite of the challenges, Radiologists and physicians had been able to navigate through modification techniques as an alternative, since the normal way might not give the desired result.
He said as at the last count, the hospital had 286 patients of COVID-19, adding that it had been able to X-ray 148 of them for treatment.
Udu said that 90 per cent of the hospital needed to carry out treatment on the 286 patients had been made available by the Federal Government through the effort of the hospital`s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Bissalla Ekele.
Dr. Daji Feyisayo, Head of Radiology Department, National Hospital, Abuja also said the hospital was initially unable to manage patients when the pandemic first started.
He said the situation however, changed when Radiologist rose to the situation to give a leap in treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation, Greenlight Initiative, has commenced a six-month training for over 360 ambulance and truck drivers, drawn from the six geopolitical zones, on safety measures against contracting Coronavirus pandemic.
Its Executive Director, Simon Obi, who stated this yesterday in Abuja, noted that most essential workers like drivers who transport medical supplies, patients, and logistics lacked necessary precautionary measures.
