The Borno State government has read a riot act to operators of private laboratories, pharmacies and patent stores against diagnosing and treating coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in the state. The Commissioner for Health, Dr Salihu Kwayabura, gave the warning on Monday during a media briefing in Maiduguri, the state capital.
He decried that some laboratories and pharmaceutical stores were misleading residents into approaching them for diagnoses and treatment of the disease. “It has come to our notice that a few private laboratories are engaged in this dastardly and unwarranted act,” the commissioner said.
He added, “Again, I sound a very strong warning on behalf of the committee and the government of Borno State that they should desist henceforth or face the law. “We will close down all such premises and prosecute the offenders in accordance with the extant laws of the country.”
Kwayabura informed journalists that while the total number of recovered patients who have been discharged from the isolation centre was 18, the death toll has risen to 21. He said 10 out of the 21 cases were managed at the isolation centres before the patients gave up the ghost, but the remaining 11 were brought in critical conditions and their status was only discovered after a post-mortem was conducted.
