Second Wave Of Pandemic More Deadly, Says NMA

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has described the second
wave of the covid-19 pandemic as being more deadly than the first,
going by the increasing number of new infections and deaths in
recent times.

It further lamented the non-adherence of Nigerians to the
non-pharmaceutical measures of hand washing, sanitizing, proper use
of face masks, and practicing social distancing by the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), noting that more sensitization
is needed as many do not know that the virus is still very active
in communities.

Similarly, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD)
and Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria
(AMLSN), disclosed that people have thrown caution to the wind with
respect to observing safety measures, especially as it relates to
mass gatherings and practicing social distancing.

Reports from the NCDC, shows that out of 77,933 confirmed cases
since the beginning of the pandemic, as at the 20th of December,
there are 8,931 active cases, with 1,218 deaths recorded so
far.

Speaking with The Nation, the President of the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA), Prof. Innocent Ujah, said: “I must say that this
second wave appears to be more deadly than the first. We require a
lot of caution, preparation and commitment. For the Nigerian
Medical Association (NMA), at our NEC meeting, we deliberated and
decided that not only should we be involved in case management, we
should also be involved in sensitization and advocacy.

“That is, sensitization to the public and advocacy to the
government and stakeholders so that they can support the
government. We should improve our testing and comply strictly with
the NCDC protocol. There is no replacement for it at the moment and
it is good to prevent because it has no cure. Therefore, it is
better to prevent that subjecting people to Case Management that
may not be successful.

“As far as the doctors are concerned, we are committed to
working with the government so that we can get things sorted out,
that is, we should commit ourselves to Case Management. We lost
some of our members to this pandemic and it is part of the risk of
our profession.

“This disease is killing a lot of people. So, there is an urgent
need to sensitize the public. If we are able to do this, I believe
we will reduce the fatalities to the barest minimum, but the
government should do more testing, and the National Orientation
Agency (NOA) should please come to the aid of Nigerians by
sensitizing the public in various languages not just in
English.

“I hope that in the 2021 budget it is captured because a huge
amount of money must be made available for the containment.”

The President of the National Association of Resident Doctors
(NARD), Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, said: “What I actually think is
that we have thrown caution into the air. We tend not to be aware
that there is a second wave. If you check the numbers that we are
having every day, you will see that the numbers seem to be
skyrocketing. Therefore, part of the precautionary measures we were
taking earlier during the first infection, are no longer being
adhered to.

“People still go to churches, mosques and people still attend
social gatherings and all those places, without being aware that
infection is still ongoing. Although there are no statistics to
tell us the number of mortality and morbidity associated with the
second wave, therefore, I think this is something we should work
on. The government needs to try to do more of education.

“If we insist that every Nigerian should wear a face mask and
avoid gatherings and insist on avoiding social gatherings, I
believe that these are the ways that we can at least try to stop
the spread of the second wave of covid-19.

“Part of what we do as an Association is free medical checks and
health talks which we do, and we share sanitizers and face masks.
We have been doing this for the past 3 weeks. We are able to
educate people around us generally on the essence of the second
wave and the ways to follow precautionary measures to avoid getting
infected.”

The President of the Association of Medical Laboratory
Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Prof. James Damen, said: “What we
are doing is actually to look into the laboratory to see how the
diagnosis can be improved on. We are also talking to our members to
see how we can also improve what we call the turnaround time so
that people can get their results as at when due.

“We are also advocating that the government should empower the
Medical Laboratories Science Council of Nigeria to be able to
evaluate all the test kits that are actually coming into the
country because some of these kits are fake, and if you use it
without validation, there is a possibility that you can have
results that are not reliable.”

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has described the second
wave of the covid-19 pandemic as being more deadly than the first,
going by the increasing number of new infections and deaths in
recent times.

It further lamented the non-adherence of Nigerians to the
non-pharmaceutical measures of hand washing, sanitizing, proper use
of face masks, and practicing social distancing by the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), noting that more sensitization
is needed as many do not know that the virus is still very active
in communities.

Similarly, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD)
and Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria
(AMLSN), disclosed that people have thrown caution to the wind with
respect to observing safety measures, especially as it relates to
mass gatherings and practicing social distancing.

Reports from the NCDC, shows that out of 77,933 confirmed cases
since the beginning of the pandemic, as at the 20th of December,
there are 8,931 active cases, with 1,218 deaths recorded so
far.

Speaking with The Nation, the President of the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA), Prof. Innocent Ujah, said: “I must say that this
second wave appears to be more deadly than the first. We require a
lot of caution, preparation and commitment. For the Nigerian
Medical Association (NMA), at our NEC meeting, we deliberated and
decided that not only should we be involved in case management, we
should also be involved in sensitization and advocacy.

“That is, sensitization to the public and advocacy to the
government and stakeholders so that they can support the
government. We should improve our testing and comply strictly with
the NCDC protocol. There is no replacement for it at the moment and
it is good to prevent because it has no cure. Therefore, it is
better to prevent that subjecting people to Case Management that
may not be successful.

“As far as the doctors are concerned, we are committed to
working with the government so that we can get things sorted out,
that is, we should commit ourselves to Case Management. We lost
some of our members to this pandemic and it is part of the risk of
our profession.

“This disease is killing a lot of people. So, there is an urgent
need to sensitize the public. If we are able to do this, I believe
we will reduce the fatalities to the barest minimum, but the
government should do more testing, and the National Orientation
Agency (NOA) should please come to the aid of Nigerians by
sensitizing the public in various languages not just in
English.

“I hope that in the 2021 budget it is captured because a huge
amount of money must be made available for the containment.”

The President of the National Association of Resident Doctors
(NARD), Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, said: “What I actually think is
that we have thrown caution into the air. We tend not to be aware
that there is a second wave. If you check the numbers that we are
having every day, you will see that the numbers seem to be
skyrocketing. Therefore, part of the precautionary measures we were
taking earlier during the first infection, are no longer being
adhered to.

“People still go to churches, mosques and people still attend
social gatherings and all those places, without being aware that
infection is still ongoing. Although there are no statistics to
tell us the number of mortality and morbidity associated with the
second wave, therefore, I think this is something we should work
on. The government needs to try to do more of education.

“If we insist that every Nigerian should wear a face mask and
avoid gatherings and insist on avoiding social gatherings, I
believe that these are the ways that we can at least try to stop
the spread of the second wave of covid-19.

“Part of what we do as an Association is free medical checks and
health talks which we do, and we share sanitizers and face masks.
We have been doing this for the past 3 weeks. We are able to
educate people around us generally on the essence of the second
wave and the ways to follow precautionary measures to avoid getting
infected.”

The President of the Association of Medical Laboratory
Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Prof. James Damen, said: “What we
are doing is actually to look into the laboratory to see how the
diagnosis can be improved on. We are also talking to our members to
see how we can also improve what we call the turnaround time so
that people can get their results as at when due.

“We are also advocating that the government should empower the
Medical Laboratories Science Council of Nigeria to be able to
evaluate all the test kits that are actually coming into the
country because some of these kits are fake, and if you use it
without validation, there is a possibility that you can have
results that are not reliable.”