As more cases of the dreaded COVID-19 virus continues to ravage the nation, ViewPointNigeria’s citizen reporter visited the Plateau quarantine centre in order to ascertain the quality of Medicare being afforded those in the facilities.

One of the patients who spoke to ViewPointNigeria on condition of anonymity, confirmed that he had travelled to Jos from Lagos and was able to pass all checkpoints along the state’s entry point without any difficulty or interrogation by security personnel. He said, this is even as Government has been claiming to be monitoring all entry and exit points via CCTV.

He said it was only when he arrived home that his entire family members refused to come to close distance of him. They then locked him up in one room for one day (only opening the room to let him take his bath).

He said, by the next day news of his arrival had already spread through the community and they all started ringing the NCDC contact number to no avail.
Additionally, the PLSG situatioin room numbers also did not help and so there was a lot of exasperation.

Finally though, they were able to reach the deputy Governor and the commissioner of health who made arrangements for the the gentleman to the taken to quarantine facility.

The fellow though expressed shock when the officials came to take him away, only to realise that two other patients were also in the vehicle and the officials themselves were not wearing any protective gear (only face-masks).

Speaking further, he said “7 days into my quarantine, I can confirm to you that no tests have been conducted on me”. In fact no bed was allocated to me here at the quarantine centre. Some we all just mingle and sleep in various places.

To understand what the best practice is in this regard, ViewPointNigeria’s citizens reporter reached out to one of the COVID-19 experts in Abuja and posed the question —how should patients should be treated in typical circumstances. And he confirmed that once a suspected case arrives, the fellow has to be tested in the first or second day of arrival —if he/she tests negative then they are quarantined for 14 days (which is the virus incubation period) before being discharged if still negative after that period. If positive, then such individuals are sent immediately to isolation centres for life saving treatment.

He confirmed that not testing a suspected case for over 1 week (as it is in the Jos quarantine facility) is against standard practice.

As FG aims to test up to 2 million people over the next 2 months, the question remains —what is Plateau’s target? How does it intend to tests its citizens?

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Plateau COVID-19 patient in quarantine explodes —says no tests have been carried out on him in 1 full week of quarantine