The Minister of Health, Ehanire Osagie has disclosed that retired doctors and nurses might be recalled by the federal government to help in the fight against coronavirus.
The Minister said a majority of the coronavirus cases in the country have a travel history while the rest had contacts with them.
Ehanire Osagie said “We have advised that some states should issue a call for retired doctors and nurses to be able to be reabsorbed and come back to service for this particular period if the need arises. They can be recalled back to active duty. They are in the reserved pool. As of this date, there are 36 cases of coronavirus in Nigeria. Of these cases 25 are in Lagos, six are at the Federal Capital Territory, two are in Ogun, one in Edo, one in Ekiti and one in Oyo State. 26 have had a travel history to countries with high burden in the last two weeks, six are contacts of the confirmed cases and for four of them, we have not been able to trace recent travel history or trace known confirmed contact. Unfortunately, we recorded the first death of COVID-19 infection in the country. This was a Nigerian who had underline illnesses and died due to complications on March 22, 2020, in Abuja. He had just returned from treatment in the United Kingdom. After successful treatment, two persons have been discharged. 32 are clinically stable with mild symptoms. One patient is dependent on oxygen.”
As of Tuesday March 24, the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose to 42. 2 of the patients have been discharged and only one death has been recorded.