Covid-19: Efforts to track contacts in trouble, says Delta NMA

Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

The Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA) Delta state on Thursday raised the concern over attempts by various governments in tracking down contacts, saying that the process might not produce the desire results as patients were not forthcoming with required materials.
Delta state Chairman of the Association, Dr Omo Ekenaem who spoke to Journalists in Asaba, said that the success of tracking down possible contacts of Covid-19 patients greatly depended on the patients’ability to Speak out, adding that”Part of the Challenges of Contact tracing is that it greatly depens on how Cooperative the Patients are, this is because it’s with the information given by the patients that we are able to trace where they have been and who they have been in contact with”
Dr Omo, the head of Anaesthesia Unit, Federal Medical Center FMC Asaba,noted “ we have had instance where patients come in and deny having undergone foreign trips, it’s saddened that a lot of people still don’t fully understand nor fully appreciate the implications of these cases” explaining that in a bid to protect their family members, Covid-19 Pandemic Patients unknowingly put their loved ones at risk adding” sometimes, it’s down the long line that some patients begin to open up, especially when those they have been in contact with have begun manifesting symptoms of the virus, making it quit difficult to treat them at that point, a patient who has tested positive to Covid-19 virus and Claims to be living alone, when in actual sense he lives with his family,puts them at greatest risk”
Meanwhile, Dr Omo Ekenaem has lauded the efforts of the state government in helping to Curb the Spread of the Pandemic, adding that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa led administration had Particularly shown visibly Concern in helping the Epidemiology Department in Charge of Contact tracing by Providing enablement, especially with regards to mobility .
On dusk to dawn, Dr Omo Ekenaem described it as appropriate, adding that” the additional two weeks would help in tracing all the Contact Persons of Positive patients so they can be duly isolated, while ensuring that they undergo needed treatment”