Though it is not yet Uhuru in winning the war on COVID-19, but we all must give thanks to God first for His abundant mercies that have preserved us thus far. At this point in time, we must greatly appreciate the health workers and members of the media who have stood strong on the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19 despite the risks posed to their own health. Health workers and journalists have always been the endangered species of their professions. Their lives will always be put at risk first while trying to save others or report on every outbreak of any communicable disease and violence. Unsung heroes like Dr. Stella Adadevoh and many others easily come to mind. Adadevoh saved the nation from a horrendous catastrophy when Liberian diplomat caused an Ebola outbreak in the country. Some media practitioners who report from war zones fortunately come out alive to tell the story while some go down with it likewise the health workers who could die during epidemics as they try to save others. Young promising doctors have died in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without doubt, our medical teams and the media have delivered on COVID-19 even in the face of the decaying health facilities. Media practitioners have delivered not minding the challenges they face in various ways; notwithstanding all the challenges, they still get the job done. With the quick-fix and makeshift isolation centres, the health workers remained the available ones on ground who stood and attended to the patients while their media counterparts follow-up with every step to get information accurately disseminated to the people in all nooks and crannies of the society. At least there is no child or illiterate adult who does not know the basic precautionary measures of COVID-19. At every stage, information was made ready and available to save lives.
Interestingly, health workers and media practitioners did not run away in the face of COVID-19 danger, while members of several professions, civil servants and corporate workers were placed on lockdown, to enjoy the safety of their homes.
Similarly, both health workers and media practitioners are suffering from the many operational inadequacies in the systems, but they are not deterred. Instead of complaining and giving excuses, they approach their responsibilities with commitment and sincerity. Health workers show coordination, skill, expertise, research and real team work which have really saved the situation and achieved success. Media practitioners on the other hand have exhibited courageous disposition and remained one of the most admired vocations. Health and media workers have become the champions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As health workers were giving their best, media practitioners consistently gave the people updates on the pandemic while also harping on precautionary measures to prevent infection. I call them winners because if both Nigerian professions have what the developed societies have in terms of healthcare system, death would have been minimal.
To demonstrate appreciation of the health workers, one Internet citizen posted this on social media: “Next year, we do not want to hear about the Oscar, Grammys, Tonys or Golden Globe awards. We don’t want to see a single pathetic actor, actress, singer, celebrity or sports person on any red carpet!!! We rather want to see doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, laboratory scientists and other essential health workers come out in the best of their styles, even though their profession gags such unnecessary flamboyance. We want to see them having fun, get recognitions, awards, medals and expensive goodie bags on the red carpet. If this does not happen, it will be the greatest injustice in the land ever.”
Interestingly, whoever that coined this quote, agreed with me that health workers who stood firm and became the brickwall between life and death in the face of such a challenging killer, deserve commendations.
With a decaying health system all over the country, including the seat of power which should have the best of the best, people who have access to it still fly out for medical tourism. There is low life expectancy, very poor habitation, no basic facility known of a hospital in most of them, yet health workers stood to conquer. If the health system in the country is worth its while, why do Nigerians embark on medical tourism? Why do they believe that the best medical teams and facilities are found overseas? Why do they believe that when doctors overseas prescribe drugs for them, it works perfectly?
From what we have seen, I quite agree with the views of the Chief Medical Director of University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Dr. Emem Bassey, who told me in an interview that the young crop of health workers have actually come to change narratives in the health care system. Clearly, the full accreditation from the Joint Commission International, the highest international standard of accreditation in management and delivery of healthcare system services, given to most elite private hospitals in Nigeria, is a positive sign. Again, do not forget we have started doing and succeeding in various surgeries and transplants here in Nigeria now. Remember when the president’s son had a near fatal accident; he was totally treated in Nigeria.
“People who tell how they were cured in foreign countries, do they tell how many deaths that are recorded in the same foreign countries, will they tell the number of corpses that are flown back to Nigeria from the so-called super health care systems? We are trained to believe God heals all diseases, but our training in Nigeria has not failed us. The outbreak of COVID-19, therefore, reiterates the need for us as a country to invest more in health infrastructure because there will be more novel viruses and bacteria in the future,” Bassey said, adding that “COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for the government to assess the available health facilities in the country.”
Now, to think that Nigerian doctors battled the Coronavirus with over 800 cured and discharged from isolation centres across the country, is good reason to commend our health workers even when we have recorded over 4,000 positive cases.
The first thank you goes to two Nigerian gentlemen, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire and Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu who is the Director General, Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Both have shown great leadership skills under fire of COVID-19.
What about colleagues in my primary constituency – the media? Kudos to all journalists from various media houses, who despite the in-house challenges and lockdown ensured that the right information got communicated to the public. To all journalists, I say that you are amazing men and women. Kudos again to all health workers and media practitioners!