Gombe COVID-19 Patients Leave Isolation, Protest Inadequate Food, Medical Attention

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Coronavirus patients at the isolation centre in Kwadon,  Gombe State on Tuesday protested what they referred to as their abandonment by the state government.

One of our correspondents observed that the protesters who blocked the federal road leading to the Dadinkowa-Biu Expressway demanded the transfer of a  female patient in the centre because of the odour from her wound.

The patients protested against the government’s negligence, inadequate food and medical attention in the isolation centre.

Confirming the incident the Commissioner for Information and spokesperson of the state task force, Alhassan Ibrahim, said the task force would make life bearable for the patients.

He said, “It is really unfortunate that there was disquiet at the Kwadon isolation centre. It was caused by the patients there.  They predicated their grievances on three premises, one that they were not given drugs, or medication. It will interest all of us to know that all of them there are asymptomatic, meaning they don’t have symptoms.

“The second is that they were isolated at the centre and their families are not taken care of and I think they are going too far and thirdly that there is an inmate with an ailment that they are not comfortable sharing a bathroom with. The premises that their protest is predicated on are not really too reasonable.”

We’re being starved, Bauchi COVID-19 patients cry out

There was a similar protest in Bauchi State, where patients in some isolation centres complained that they were being starved.

The state government, which confirmed the development, said it was not deliberate. It said appropriate actions had been taken.

Relations of some of the patients, who spoke in confidence with The PUNCH, decried the situation which showed that their loved ones were being stigmatised.

A COVID-19 patient at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Isolation centre in Bauchi, on his twitter handle on Monday, said that he had yet to get any food from the government.

The user with the account @Suhailbuhari said that was his first day at the isolation centre wondering if he was supposed to be taking care of his meals.

The Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Lawal Muazu, in a statement on Tuesday, said,  “The attention of Bauchi State Government has been drawn to delay in providing meals for coronavirus patients at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa  University Teaching Hospital Bauchi. The government has since taken actions and addressed the issue immediately.”