Health Minister, Osagie Ehaniare, has said that he did not know where the 15 Chinese doctors on a visit to Nigeria are.
He also said that not all the 15 were doctors, saying some them were technicians.
Ehaniare had said last week that, after all the ‘doctors’ had tested negative and completed their isolation, they were helping Nigeria set up the equipment that came from China.
But the minister said during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Thursday that journalists should stop asking him about the visitors’ whereabouts, noting that they were not Federal Government’s guests but those of the Chinese company that invited them.
He said, “I think not all of them were doctors and I heard that some of them are technicians, but they are staff of CCECC.
“The Ministry of Health is not their host, so we can’t always explain what happened to them or where they are. There seems to be a lot of interest in these doctors. But they are the staff of the company and I think that they are on a company Visa.
“I will be very happy if you don’t ask me about where they are because they are not really our guests.
“But we have been able to learn some things from them by interacting with them from their experience in their country and they did tell us and we shared ideas on what they did in their country in managing COVID-19.”
Meanwhile, has also said that there are no conclusions yet with regard to ‘strange’ deaths in Kano State.
He said that investigations were still ongoing in the matter.
Kano State witnessed yet-to-be-explained deaths in the recent past.
No fewer than 150 people were feared dead in the state, as the News Agency of Nigeria reports, prompting investigations to determine whether the deaths were related to COVID-19.
According to the minister, unexplained deaths did not only occur in Kano but in eight states of the federation.
He gave the assurance that ministry would continue to investigate them.
The minister said that Nigeria had been able to learn from ongoing interactions with Chinese personnel, based on their own experiences in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
He encouraged those who claimed to have solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic to go ahead with researches on them.
According to him, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is there for all researchers to approach.
“Nobody needs to give you permission to approach NAFDAC.”
Ehanire said that the ministry was ensuring continued delivery of routine services in all hospitals in the country.
“Latest statistics from the National Health Management Information System indicates that out-patient visits dropped from for million to about two million and antenatal visits from 1.3 million to 655,000.
“Others include skilled birth attendance, from 158,374 to less than 99,000, while immunisation services reduced by about half.
“All these failings have yet undetermined consequences, which the easing of the lockdown should hopefully address.
“However, the suspected downside of easing restrictions has to be balanced off by citizens, with collective determination by all of us, not only to comply with protective and prophylactic advisories, but to encourage relatives, friends neighbours and customers to do same,” he said.
The minister said that the use of facial covers such as masks in places, where social distancing may be difficult, should be emphasised and supported through distribution of masks to the population, as an act of goodwill.
“Face masks should in fact become commonplace, and I look forward to seeing that cooks, stewards and food vendors, for example, wear masks or lose their customers.
“I wish to enjoin workplaces to institute such requirements and ensure that all workers are masked and knowledgeable about COVID-19, and by extension, share it with their families and relations,” he said.
