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17 hospital pharmacists test positive for COVID-19

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Seventeen front line pharmacists across the country have tested positive for COVID-19, with two dying from complications of the disease.

The development is coming one month after six front line pharmacists across the country reportedly got infected and presently recuperating in isolation centres.

A source told PUNCH HealthWise that hospital pharmacists in Edo (7) and Lagos (5) states accounted for 60 per cent of the cases.

Others were Bayelsa (2), Akwa Ibom (1), Ebonyi (1) and Rivers (1).

While noting that most of the affected pharmacists were front line health workers in federal hospitals and isolation centres, the source said inadequate personal protective equipment, late payment of hazard allowances and poor training of health officials, especially those combating the disease, contributed to the problems.

“As we speak, only very few institutions have N95 face masks. Some are provided with cloth face masks to complement the inadequacies, even when it was obvious that those cloth masks could not offer any form of protection against COVID-19.

“Many of us procured the PPE out of our own pockets, as few centres provide gowns, face shield and goggles. You need to visit some of these facilities to fully understand our plight,” he added.

When contacted, the Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria confirmed the report, saying that conventional drug stores are also unsafe, as there thousands of community pharmacists who are daily exposed to pre-clinical or asymptomatic patients who still see pharmacies as their first port of call.

AHAPN chairman, Dr. Kingsley Amibor, also lamented that two deaths recorded was as a result of complications from COVID-19.

He attributed the loss of the health workers to inadequate protective personal equipment and poor funding in isolation centres and health facilities battling COVID-19 in the country.

“Aside from inadequate PPE, we have also been complaining about space constraints, making it difficult to practise patient confidentiality; poor funding for drug procurement, inequitable remuneration and no opportunity for pharmacovigilance,” Amibor said.

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