• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

      PRNigeria logo fearured image

      EFCC Arraigns Ex-Convict, Other for Naira Abuse in Lagos

      EFCC Arrests 37 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Ilorin

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Ibrahim Yahaya Dandakata of Arewa Economic Forum AEF

      AEF Slams CBN’s New BDC Policy, Cites Threat to Northern Economy…

      Google Search Tech Digest

      7 Smart Google Search Tips That Will Save You Hours By…

      U.S. VISA

      REVEALED: Why US Reduced Visa Validity for Nigerians to 3 Months…

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria Customs Takes Anti-Money Laundering Fight to the Skies

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria Customs, ICPC and the Audit of Conscience

  • National
    • Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

      Customs Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDAC

      President Muhammadu Buhari

      Rat Story Was a Smokescreen to Divert Attention from Buhari’s Health…

      Nigerian Banks

      Nigeria’s Second Chance at a Global Cashless Future By Fatimah Yusuf…

      Air Chief Rallies New Intelligence Officers for Proactive Security Response

      Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

      Customs, NAFDAC Activate MoU to Fight Substandard Products By Abdullah Maiwada

    • Government
      • Mohammed Idris

        Local Government Autonomy Not Negotiable — FG Declares

        NELFUND

        NELFUND Resumes Monthly Upkeep Payments, Credits Over 3,600 Students

        Seal of the Nigerian Senate

        NNPCL Must Account for ‘Unreconciled’ N210tr in Financial Statements – Senate…

        Senator Kashim Shettima

        Presidency Debunks Misleading Reports on VP Shettima’s Remarks at Book Launch

        Shamsedeen Babatunde Ogunjimi

        OAGF Explains Delay in June Salaries for Some Civil Servants

  • Security
    • Defence Minister Abubakar Badaru

      Nigeria’s Future Rests on Smart Defence Management — Badaru to Military…

      Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

      Customs Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDAC

      Troops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in Kaduna

      Military Troops

      Troops Bust IPOB/ESN Logistics Network, Arrest Informants in Southeast — DHQ

      Soludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad

  • Features
    • Soludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad

      Nigerian Banks

      Nigeria’s Second Chance at a Global Cashless Future By Fatimah Yusuf…

      Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

      Customs, NAFDAC Activate MoU to Fight Substandard Products By Abdullah Maiwada

      Crowned Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia

      Rebranding Royalty: Saudi Arabia’s Response to Iran’s Fall By Baba El-Yakubu

      Kanam Ambush: The Danger of Embarking on an Unauthorized Mission By…

  • State
    • Troops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in Kaduna

      Soludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad

      Police repatriates Chinese Fugitive wanted for Tax fraud

      Police Arrest, Repatriate Chinese Fugitive Wanted for Tax Fraud

      court Judiciary

      Murder of Wedding Guests: Plateau Court Remands 20 Suspects

      Army Vows to Tackle Oil Theft, Restore Nigeria’s 2mbpd Output

  • Event
    • Asiwaju Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo

      47 Years of Excellence: Honoring Asiwaju Awomolo, SAN

      NCoS inmates

      58 Inmates in Kano Sit for 2025 NECO Exams, Thanks to…

      Troops of the Nigerian Army giving a salute

      162nd Anniversary: Tinubu Salutes Nigerian Army, Hails Troops as Guardians of…

      President & Chairman of Governing Council, Dr. Ike Neliaku

      NIPR Lauds Nigerian PR Firms for Outstanding Performances at 2025 SABRE…

      SCN NGO signs partnership with PRNIGERIA

      SCN NGO Seals Partnership with PRNigeria to Amplify its Humanitarian Projects

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Features COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A Monumental Disaster Unfolding in Kano- Prof Usman Yusuf
  • Features

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A Monumental Disaster Unfolding in Kano- Prof Usman Yusuf

By
Usman Yusuf
-
April 22, 2020
Coronavirus COVID-19
Coronavirus COVID-19

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A Monumental Disaster Unfolding in Kano- Prof Usman Yusuf

By Usman Yusuf

There is a disaster currently unfolding in Kano with rising death rates particularly among the elderly that is not getting the National attention it deserves.

2. While some may explain this increasing death rates to the lack of medical care for the chronically ill due to the lockdown (which in any case is poorly observed and enforced in Kano), we should not forget that these same preexisting medical conditions make the elderly more vulnerable to infection and death by Covid-19

3. Kano, the most populous city in Nigeria will if urgent measures are not taken now, become the epicenter of Covid-19 pandemic in the African continent.

4. I have always believed that based on the epidemiology of the virus, the population dynamics, negative socioeconomic factors, the state of healthcare and infrastructure in the city, Kano alone will have more positive cases than the whole country put together. But, because we were not testing, we did not find. We are now seeing more cases because the test center in Kano started working just two weeks ago.

5. On Monday April 20th, 2020, there was a news scroll on National Television Authority (NTA) captioned “100 people died in Kano from a strange illness”. Really?, what illness can be stranger than Covid-19 at this moment in our history, I asked?

6. Print and social media are also replete with hysterical headlines about the rising fatalities in the city.

7. There are first hand reports from many cemeteries in the city of steadily increasing burials which the state government initially denied but later said it would investigate.

8. Doctors in the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) of the major teaching hospital in the city report that recently, almost 60% of all A&E visits are among adults with symptomatic respiratory infections with increasing fatality in those above 50 years of age.

9. To worsen things, most of the hospitals in the state are currently only partially functioning due to fear and uncertainty among healthcare workers who know very well that the hospitals can not cope with sick Covid-19 patients that will soon be coming.

10. The tragedy is that healthcare workers who are in the frontline and exposed daily to the mortal danger of this virus are not provided with any form of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

11. About two months ago, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) lost two brilliant Doctors in the prime of their lives and careers to Lassa Fever after operating on an infected pregnant patient.

Read Also:

  • Local Government Autonomy Not Negotiable — FG Declares
  • Nigeria’s Future Rests on Smart Defence Management — Badaru to Military Leaders
  • Customs Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDAC

12. This is the reason that the AKTH Chapter of the Association of Resident Doctors issued a statement on 20th April 2020 putting the hospital authorities on notice that they will stop seeing patients if they are not provided with adequate PPEs.

13. These Doctors are right in their demands which are enshrined and protected by the WHO rights of healthcare workers taking care of patients in any pandemic.

14. Doctors took an oath to protect and preserve lives not to commit suicide which is what knowingly seeing a Covid-19 patient without PPE will be.

15. Nigerians as a people should salute, speak up for, and protect our healthcare workers. These selfless men and women, some of the best among us are in the frontline all across the nation putting their lives on the line for us in this existential battle against this unseen enemy .

16. Sadly, the Kano State’s Task Force on Covid-19 is in disarray since several of its key members went into quarantine after testing positive for the virus, this vacuum in leadership has resulted in the very slow response and testing by the State’s Rapid Response team resulting in increasing fatality particularly among the elderly.

17. It is the socioeconomic consequences of this pandemic that scares me more than the virus itself. How well it is handled now will determine this outcome. Clearly, Kano city is in serious trouble and the political leadership is in dire need of help from the Federal government, it’s citizens and the whole nation.

18. A wise man once said “When disaster strikes, it tears the curtain away from the festering problems that we have beneath them,”

19. I call on the Federal government to act now with all sense of urgency by mobilizing resources to Kano to achieve the following remedies before it is too late.

(a). Humane but strict enforcement of Social Distancing measures

(b). Provision of foodstuffs and palliatives to enable people to stay at home

(c). Aggressive case finding by increasing testing and isolating those found positive

(d). Provision of adequate PPEs to healthcare workers

(e). Provision of adequate Drugs & Consumables to hospitals

(f). Provision of more hospital & ICU bed spaces

(g). Provision of Ventilators to hospitals

(h). Employment of more healthcare workers like Nurses and Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWS) to assist in contact tracing

(I). Aggressive public education

(j). All deaths should be reported and swabs taken for Covid-19 before burials

(k). Active engagement of Traditional, Religious and community leaders

WE ALL HAVE A DUTY TO PULL TOGETHER AND LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER AT THIS TRYING TIME

Yusuf is a Professor of Haematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • AKTH
  • Covid-19
  • Kano
  • PPEs
Previous articleArmed Banditry: Food Insecurity looms in Kaduna
Next articleCOVID-19: Kwara Partners NGOs Against Coronavirus
Usman Yusuf
Usman Yusuf
http://www.PRNigeria.com

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Soludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad

Nigerian Banks

Nigeria’s Second Chance at a Global Cashless Future By Fatimah Yusuf Usman

Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

Customs, NAFDAC Activate MoU to Fight Substandard Products By Abdullah Maiwada

Crowned Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia

Rebranding Royalty: Saudi Arabia’s Response to Iran’s Fall By Baba El-Yakubu

Kanam Ambush: The Danger of Embarking on an Unauthorized Mission By Zagazola Makama

Honourable Mukhtar Tolani Shagaya

Shagaya at NASS: Fostering Youthful Vision through Humble Leadership By Umar Farouk Bala

Yushau Shuaib of PRNigeria, Barrister Nima Salman Mann and Rear Admiral A. A. Mustapha of NIPSS

Yushau Shuaib vs. NIPSS: A Case of Alleged Digital Rights Violation by Abdul Ikon Allah

Nigerian Navy's newest landing ship tank launched in Sharjah, UAE.

From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as a Force for National and Continental Stability By Musa Ilallah

What Life Really Looks Like for Nigerians Battling Sickle Cell, By Hafsat Ibrahim

Shittu Yunus Shittu

Can Nigeria Lead Africa’s AI Revolution? By Shittu Yunus Shittu

162 years of the Nigerian Army celebrations

The First Shot and the Long March: Reflections on 162 Years of the Nigerian Army By Olayemi Esan

From SDP to ADA to ADC: Can the New Opposition Coalition Unseat Tinubu in 2027?

Recent Posts

  • Local Government Autonomy Not Negotiable — FG Declares
  • Nigeria’s Future Rests on Smart Defence Management — Badaru to Military Leaders
  • Customs Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDAC
  • Troops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in Kaduna
  • Troops Bust IPOB/ESN Logistics Network, Arrest Informants in Southeast — DHQ
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
Local Government Autonomy Not Negotiable — FG DeclaresNigeria’s Future Rests on Smart Defence Management — Badaru to Military LeadersCustoms Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDACTroops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in KadunaTroops Bust IPOB/ESN Logistics Network, Arrest Informants in Southeast — DHQSoludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir AhmadRat Story Was a Smokescreen to Divert Attention from Buhari’s Health - Garba Shehu RevealsNigeria's Second Chance at a Global Cashless Future By Fatimah Yusuf UsmanAir Chief Rallies New Intelligence Officers for Proactive Security ResponseCustoms, NAFDAC Activate MoU to Fight Substandard Products By Abdullah MaiwadaNELFUND Resumes Monthly Upkeep Payments, Credits Over 3,600 StudentsNNPCL Must Account for ‘Unreconciled’ N210tr in Financial Statements - Senate InsistsPresidency Debunks Misleading Reports on VP Shettima’s Remarks at Book LaunchPolice Arrest, Repatriate Chinese Fugitive Wanted for Tax FraudMurder of Wedding Guests: Plateau Court Remands 20 Suspects
X whatsapp