By Uche Mbah
There have been palpable fears over whether the imported Chinese Experts were screened by the Nigerian Government before they arrived in Nigeria as coronavirus experts.
Recall that Air Peace broke the jinx by being the first Nigerian airline to fly from Nigeria non-stop to Beijing, the capital of China. It flew on the instance of the Nigerian Government to bring in equipment to help Nigeria fight the dreaded disease, and ferry in the experts.
The arrival of the experts was steeped in controversy. The Nigeria Medical Association rejected them, the Nigerian Union of Journalists rejected the idea, Nigerians generally rejected the idea but the government was adamant. They were received on arrival in Abuja by the Minister of health.
Nigerian doctors have vowed not to have them near their patients.
But the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zou Pingjiang, said he was at a loss considering the opposition the coming of the “experts” has generated.
“I am struggling to understand the logic; for us, at the most difficult stage of our fight, we received support from Nigeria, it is time for us to reciprocate the friendship and the kindness”, he said.
“This is the first time I met the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, since early February and I appreciate the strong support for us from him and the government.
“For the government and Chinese businesses, what we are trying to do is to address the concerns of our dear friends.
“According to the information the CCECCE gave to me, the value of the equipment and medical supplies is around $1.5 million and including the other costs like the flight it is around $2 million,” he said.
On how long they will stay, he said they were billed to stay for one month, but the one month quarantine may extend it.
“The lockdown in Wuhan lasted 76 days, since January Wuhan had been in lockdown, today has been the very first day that the lockdown has been lifted.
“One key measure for us to fight the Covid-19 is to try every means to break the chain of transmission”.
But it is not clear who certified the doctors for practice in Nigeria, or whether they were screened at all by the Nigerian government. Cross border workers are usually screened and tested by their host countries before allowing them to practice to ascertain they satisfy the standards of the host country.
The NMA was not carried along by the government in its decision.
The NMA chairman of the Federal Capital Territory chapter, Dr Phillips Ekpe, was reported to have warned: “We need to be careful of the Chinese coming into the country at this time. They seem not to have a good name. We are not sure of the value they are going to add. Our case is not severe and Nigerian doctors are doing very well.
“We learned that it wasn’t the Federal Government that invited them; they are accompanying some medical equipment being donated to Nigeria. So, they are even uninvited. They should offload and go. There are so many conspiracy theories around this COVID-19. We need to be very cautious. We have so many doctors out there who are not employed. The government should engage them.”
Obviously the government ignored the warning.
Only recently, EU countries returned equipment supplied by china on the ground that they are inferior. And there are rumors that some equipment bought from china were returned because they tested positive for covid-19.
