By Linus Oota, Lafia

The Chief Medical Director, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia, Dr Ikrama Hassan has disclosed that 15 doctors out of 139 doctors working in the hospital have tested positive to COVID-19.

He debunked the allegation by the Association of Residents Doctors in the state that 35 doctors tested positive for COVID-19.

Speaking weekend with our correspondent in Lafia, the CMD appealed to the Association of Residents Doctors to have a dialogue with the management of DASH on their position to close down the hospital in the midst of the second wave of COVID -19.

The residents doctors had called on the Association to downscale service delivery in all the departments of the hospital due to the rise of infection of health workers with COVID -19.

He further said the second wave of the pandemic which is more infectious and needed concerted effort to tackle it, maintained that calling for the closing of the hospital will result in high mortality rate in the state.

“All we are saying is that let us sit down and talk things out, if three persons happen to test positive in a particular department, what is the justification for closing down other departments that have no single person tested positive,” he said.

According to him, it is the responsibility of the management of the hospital to protect its staff by providing all the necessary tools for them to work as well as ensuring that they are protected.

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He also added that since personal protective equipments have been provided by the hospital, the closure of service delivery by Resident Doctors in the midst of second wave of the pandemic had no rational and scientific basis, therefore unacceptable.

“We have asked the clinics not to allow patients to come at the same time, if for instance you want to attend to 40 patients in a day, you will ask 10 person to come at a particular hour, and another 10 persons to come at another hour with their face masks on. He added.

“All these are ways of maintaining physical distancing that gears towards protecting the patients and the workers in the hospital,’ he said.

“Our responsibility as a management of the hospital is to first and foremost ensure that all our staff are protected in the course of discharging their duties.