COVID-19 distraction

To date, nobody or authority has spoken with certainty on what can be done to curtail COVID-19 or when an effective remedy would be found. It is natural to accord great priority and attention to ending COVID-19 and pushing it into the dustbin of history. To ensure that the COVID-19 distraction does not continue unabated, […]

To date, nobody or authority has spoken with certainty on what can be done to curtail COVID-19 or when an effective remedy would be found.

It is natural to accord great priority and attention to ending COVID-19 and pushing it into the dustbin of history.

To ensure that the COVID-19 distraction does not continue unabated, there should be periodic and impromptu monitoring and visitation to health institutions across the country by joint teams comprising Ministries of Health, NCDC, media, among other key stakeholders.

Also, health personnel found engaging in unethical rejection of the sick should be sanctioned while their facilities should be shut down in line with extant regulations.

Dedicated and active telephone lines should be made available for members of the public to lodge complaints, more private hospitals should be granted permission to treat COVID-19 to reduce the pressure on government hospitals, while health workers should be adequately protected and given risk and hazard allowances.

Already, the virus has taken a toll on the people considering deaths, losses to businesses, forced confinements and inability to interact socially.

Many people are still being killed by terrorists, the economic recession requires serious attention, workers are losing their jobs, and many Nigerians are becoming more improvised. The ability to cope with complex issues and problems at the same time is a feature of an organised state.

Therefore, the state should not abandon its citizens in the name of fighting one disease. There is basis for a balance when it comes to official responsibility.

The COVID-19 distraction must stop.

 

Kupoluyi, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State @AdewaleKupoluyi