As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Nigeria rises, with fear that the infection rate could get worse, private healthcare providers in Lagos said they have seen at least five patients with suspected symptoms of the virus in their facilities.

According to the healthcare workers, the patients were identified at the entrance gate of their facilities during a compulsory health screening required of any patient accessing their facilities for healthcare before they are allowed to come in.

They said the compulsory health screening, which included body temperature check, was part of measures to contain COVID-19.

Our correspondent visited some private laboratories and hospitals in Lagos State on Monday and findings revealed that operators are not leaving anything to chance in identifying patients with symptoms of the virus.

At the Eko Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, Acting Chief Nursing Officer, Mrs. Fidelia Anele, said the hospital had seen a suspected case of coronavirus.

Anele said,

We have put measures in place to screen every patient at the gate before he/she is allowed to enter the hospital. We check their body temperature and the instruction is that any temperature above 37.5’C, a medical professional should be alerted.

We have a form that every patient accessing our facility must fill out. It contains their name, travel history and health issues.

We usually ask about the symptoms that brought them to the hospital such as coughing and difficulty in breathing.

We score all these symptoms over 10. If you score two over 10, we will allow you to come in.

But since we started, we have only seen one suspected case of COVID-19 at the gate. And immediately, he was directed to go to the Mainland Hospital, an infectious facility at Yaba, Lagos, which currently houses persons undergoing treatment for COVID-19.

That was the only suspected case that we have seen so far,

she explained.

At R-Jolad Hospital, Gbagada, Director of Nursing Services of the private secondary healthcare facility, Bolanle Ipaye, said the hospital had seen three suspected coronavirus cases who came to the hospital on their own for medical examination, having traveled out of the country recently.

They came on their own because they felt they were sick and they told us they traveled and that they were feeling sickly.

So far, we have only identified three suspected cases and we sent them to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

They are quarantined at home and are also being followed up by NCDC. They told us that the NCDC came to take their blood samples for testing from home. So, officially, we have three suspected cases.

We screen all our patients outside before they are allowed into the hospital, that was how we identified them.

Anyone that presents with suspected symptoms of coronavirus is referred immediately. We also refer patients to the Lagos University Teaching,

she said.

At Me Cure Healthcare, a diagnostic centre at Oshodi, Lagos, said it had also identified a suspected case of coronavirus and the patient referred to LUTH for further medical evaluation.

This was confirmed by the Chief Medical Officer, Diagnostic, Dr. Obiefuna Ajie, during a visit to the laboratory facility by our correspondent on Monday, stressing that testing for now is restricted to licensed bodies.

Me Cure is not licensed to carry out COVID-19 testing. We do not carry out test on patients suspected to have the virus. If there is a suspicion, what we do is to notify the NCDC for them to take appropriate action.

It may come to a stage where the private sector may be involved in the testing for COVID-19; for now, however, we have no official license from NCDC to the effect.

We have our online platform and people are calling to ask if we are doing COVID-19 testing and we tell them ‘no’.

But we have just had one suspected case. The individual was referred to the Infectious Disease Unit at LUTH for more comprehensive evaluation. But it was a suspected case of COVID-19,

Ajie said.

At Clinix Healthcare Limited, another private diagnostic centre in Lagos State, a source at the health facility who preferred anonymity said the diagnostic centre had not recorded any suspected case of COVID-19.

The source, however, said the facility had been receiving calls from people requesting to know if the centre was carrying out COVID-19 testing.

The source revealed that the facility and few others in the state were having negotiation with the Lagos State government on ways private diagnostic centres could support its efforts, especially in the areas of staff training and logistics, among others.

According to the source, the cost of testing for COVID-19 in a private facility is expensive and it must be done twice.

Direct cost of COVID-19 testing is N70,000 (Point of Care) and after that it will be subjected to further evaluation which is the confirmation test. Confirmation test also cost N70,000. That is why we are recommending Gold Standard test for COVID-19 where the testing and confirmation will be done at once. This will help save resources,

the source said.

At Gbagada General Hospital, an Egyptian suspected to have COVID-19 who visited the hospital, was referred to IDH, according to findings by our Correspondent who visited the state government-owned secondary healthcare facility.

But at LUTH where COVID-19 testing is approved by the government, the management is worried that some patients are besieging its laboratory for COVID-19 testing without referral.

Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee at LUTH, Prof. Wasiu Adeyemo, who confirmed this to our correspondent in an interview, said the development made the hospital to scale down its services.

Adeyemo said,

We are beginning to see patients referred from private hospitals coming to LUTH laboratories directly for COVID-19 test.

According him, this is not the protocol, explaining that patients suspected to have COVID-19 must first be seen by infectious disease experts in LUTH or at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba; or the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

The infectious disease expert is expected to examine and interrogate the case, and if suspected to be COVID-19, take the sample and send to the designated laboratory.

Patients should, therefore, desist from coming to the laboratories on their own for the test,

he added.

Source: Punch Healthwise

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.