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Nsa Gill, Calabar
CROSS River State Government has raised concerns and protested plans by the Federal Government to conduct training of Medical Personnel on COVID-19 sample testing procedure at the Nigeria Navy Reference Hospital in Calabar.
The training is arranged without the knowledge of the state government and the implication of it being a hands-on-training is that COVID-19 samples (both positive and negative samples) will be sent to the state for the training.
Commissioners for Health and Information stated these to reporters yesterday during a joined news conference.
Commissioner for Health, who is also the Chairman of the State Response Team in COVID-19, Dr. Betta Edu, lamented why the state was being put under pressure to have her enlisted as COVID-19 affected state.
“We are not afraid to record any case in Cross River State because we are prepared to contain it, but we are afraid of the numbers that don’t exist. The state should know where the training samples are coming from and how many are they. We should know of the protective measures in place for the training because the trainees live and work in the state.
“You don’t expose them to positive samples and they go back home to infect others. These are our worries that this training is planned without involving the state government and tomorrow there will be numbers giving of cases recorded in Cross River State,” she said.
Dr. Edu said the state stumble on the information on the planned GnenXpert SARS-COV-2 hands-on-training scheduled to hold tomorrow at Navy reference hospital through an informant.
Information Commissioner Asu Okang, on his part, noted that the fact that Cross River State has remained COVID-19-free till date should receive commendation and support from the Federal Government and not condemnation.
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