Rivers State denies 82 health workers contracted COVID-19 – Commissioner for Health, Rivers State

The Rivers State Government has denied claims credited to the Nigerian Medical Association in Rivers State that 82 health care workers in the state recently contracted coronavirus disease while discharging their duties.

NMA in the state, according to the state government, also claimed that the situation was as a result of the unavailability of personnel protective equipment at the state treatment centers.

A statement issued on Sunday and signed by the Commissioner for Health, Rivers State, Prof. Princewill Chike, described the claim of the doctors as baseless and untrue.

The commissioner stated that the state NMA’s assertion was deliberately misconstrued for personal reasons, adding that the doctor’s data doesn’t match with those of the Polymerise Chain Reaction laboratory data or the national data repository of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.

Chike said, “Our attention has been drawn to the comments of the NMA Chairman on the rising number of COVID cases. While we do not wish to take issues with her at this stage of the pandemic, it is important to state very categorically that the data is baseless and the assumptions in the press statement are totally untrue and misconstrued for personal reasons.

“It is incorrect to say that 82 health care workers are infected with COVID in the state. This data is false and does not match the PCR laboratory data or the numbers on the national data repository of the NCDC. One therefore wonders what gain comes from the deliberate distortion of figures.”