A former Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of the National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS], Prof Usman Yusuf, urged the Federal Government to act promptly on COVID-19 cases in Kano.

The professor of haematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation, who said the state government must account for the increasing loss of lives, also stated that the NCDC officials in Kano were no more responding to people’s distress calls

He said if the Federal Government failed to act promptly, not only would the situation get out of hand, the northern region, the entire country and the African region were in danger.

The medical doctor stated these in an article on Sunday.

Yusuf, who also spoke to one of our correspondents, lamented that two professors at the BUK, who were his friends, recently died from the infection.

He stated,

“Nigeria as a nation needs to wake up to the ever-present danger of the cascading domino effect of COVID-19 infection in Kano spreading to the North-West zone. The North-West infects the rest of the North. The North infects the nation. Nigeria infects the West Africa sub-region, which then infects the rest of Africa.

“It is now common knowledge in Kano that the NCDC officials in the city are not responding to people’s distress calls because they do not have enough staff and have no working materials or personal protective equipment. This unacceptable situation has resulted in many of them being infected by the virus, resulting in the closure of the only test centre in Kano.

“Below is an example of one of the many distress calls and text messages I have been receiving from unknown Kano residents: ‘Good afternoon prof., one of my staff lost his mother today, Friday, April 24, 2020 to circumstances similar to COVID-19 with (sudden fever, coughing and rapid breathing). When we went to bury her at 9.30am, we discovered that my mother’s body was the 18th to be buried since dawn (a time span of three to four hours). Why is the Kano State governor denying COVID-19 deaths in Kano?’