Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has appealed to private medical facilities in the state to stop rejecting patients seeking their care, saying these patients desire the same attention as was the case before the emergence of COVID -19.
He made the appeal at the weekend during the donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), including hand wash, sanitizers, soap, customized tap buckets, others to Makkah Specialist Eye Hospital, Al-Ameen Medical Centre, Standard Specialist Hospital in the state.
“We don’t want you to be sending away patients who come to you for other illnesses. While we are in the COVID-19 pandemic era, that does not mean other illnesses are gone. We want you to be running your other services,” said the governor.
Ganduje lamented that sending back patients, who were in need of medical attention, was another way of assisting the virus to wreck havoc on the people.
“This, we must run away from. Run your other services, attend to patients, work for them and coordinate well with the state, in case you have any suspicious person with COVID-19,” said Ganduje.
Ganduje reiterated that health workers must be protected, explaining that these donations were part of efforts to ensure that these workers were protected from infection.
He reiterated that all hands must be on deck to break the chain of transmission in the state and in the country at large.
The Governor, who was in the company of the staff of the state Ministry of Environment, ordered the fumigation of the premises of the visited medical facilities.
“These people will fumigate your environment very well immediately we take our leave. It is instructive to note that, we cannot achieve our fight against COVID-19 without environmental protection,” he maintained
At all the facilities visited, the governor and his entourage were received by the Chief Medical Directors of those facilities. At Makkah Specialist Eye Hospital, he was received by CMD Dr Muhiyiddeen Abdullahi Al-Badawi, while at Al-Ameem Medical Centre, he was received by CMD, Dr Yakub Garba, among other Chief Medical Directors.