Why UCH CMD, others contracted Coronavirus, by health expert

• Seeks more awareness in local languages
• Urges private sector to support govt’s efforts
• CCC tasks Fed Govt on more testing centres

The first Nigerian professor of Environmental Health Sciences and founder of Child Health Environment and Safety Trust (CHEST), Godson Ana, has explained why the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University College Hospital (UCH), Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, and Provost and Deputy Provost of University of Ibadan tested positive to Coronavirus.

Ana, who disclosed this at a press conference at Agbowo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said that what happened at the premier university and premier teaching hospital was beyond merely observing personal hygiene.

The professor said: “On the CMD and Provost and Deputy Provost, it goes beyond the issue of hygiene because at that level, there are very experienced, exposed and learned persons and they observed all these things. But you see, there are certain positions you occupy that you take a lot of risks. I must tell you that these are persons that have put in everything that they have because of the members of the public. And because of the role they play, they expose to a lot of hazards.

“So, beyond the issue of just observing hygiene, their day-to-day jobs and the requirements of their offices mandate them to go to some places. They must be seen performing their roles to support members of the public to provide all the necessary help. So, they are really exposed.

The don also stressed the need for the private sector to support government’s efforts in curtailing the virus.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) has implored the Federal Government to establish more testing centres in all the geo-political zones, if not in all the states, to fast-track the testing of suspected Coronavirus cases.

Executive Secretary of the CCC, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (rtd), in a statement, emphasised the need for an accelerated tracking of the connected people with the virus.