<p class=""> The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has warned Lagos State Government against accrediting private hospitals for the management of COVID-19 in the state.</p>
<h1>Dr Saliu Oseni and Dr Ramon Moronkola, the Lagos State Chairman and Secretary of the association respectively, gave the warning on Friday in Lagos.</h1>
<p class="">Oseni and Moronkola, in a joint statement, said that the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the private hospitals might likely be the missing link to the worsening community transmission currently occurring in the state.</p>
<p class="">According to them, the private hospitals do not have capacity for infection control and surveillance might be limited, thus exacerbating community transmission of COVID-19 infection.</p>
<p class=""><em>“The association also noted with concern, a document from the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), which, among other things, plan to accredit private hospitals for the management of COVID-19.</em></p>
<p class=""><em>“We are concerned that the state government may have started yielding to the pressures from business concerns who may see this pandemic as a business opportunity, rather than the public health emergency that it is,</em>” the NMA leaders said.</p>
<p class="">They urged the state government to rescind its position, via HEFAMAA, to use the private hospital sector to manage COVID-19 patients.</p>
<p class="">“It is still more prudent for any suspected case to be isolated in a holding area within the private hospital, while the appropriate government authority is contacted immediately.</p>
<p class="">“<em>The association will resist any attempt at commercialising the management of this infection as seen in some private health facilities.</em></p>
<p class=""><em>“We suggest that the government legislate and criminalise the act of resisting isolation by COVID-19 positive patients in public facilities, as this action has been implicated in jeopardising the efforts of containment.</em></p>
<p class=""><em>“We appeal that the public isolation centres should be made conducive for all calibre of patients</em>,” the association chairman and secretary said.</p>
<p class="">They appealed to the state government to continue to expand the capacity of the isolation centres with the aim to strategically locate them fairly in different parts of the state.</p>
<p class="">The NMA leaders also urged the government to increase the capacity of the holding areas where suspected symptomatic patients could be kept while awaiting test result for proper supervision.</p>
<p class="">The association maintained that the introduction of house-to-house testing was a positive development, especially as the state had entered the phase of community transmission.</p>
<p class=""><em>“Though, there is continued concern about the capacity and readiness of the government to speedily scale this up,”</em> Oseni and Moronkola said.</p>
<p class="">They commended the state government for increasing the testing capacity for COVID-19, adding that it had helped identify more cases and potential contacts.</p>
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