Following public backlash against a government decision to bring in a team of doctors and nurses from China to improve the nation’s fight against the global pandemic, the Senate President, Femi Gbajabiamila has announced the team from China will first be quarantined for 14 days.

Gbajabiamila said the decision based on the result of his meeting with the two health ministers on Monday, will also ensure that the doctors and nurses would at no time have “any physical contact with any patient.”

Posted on his Facebook page, the Speaker said, ”I just met with the two Ministers in charge of Health over concerns expressed by indigenous medical practitioners and many Nigerians on the engagement of Chinese doctors and nurses for the management of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

“We extracted the following commitments from them; One, the Doctors and Nurses will follow the protocol and be quarantined for 14 days once they arrive in Nigeria. Two, the doctors and nurses will at no time have any physical contact with any patient.

The Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, and a host of other professional groups have condemned the move, the NMA speaking through its President, Francis Faduyile described the move as an embarrassment to the membership of the Association and other health workers who are giving their best in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic under deplorable working conditions.”

Full statement of the NMA below

Chukwugozie Okeke reporting, Obinwannem News