Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BASPHCDA) has identified denial by patients, as one of the greatest challenges facing health workers, who are tracing and treating people with coronavirus in the state.

Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Executive Chairman of the agency, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Sunday.

Mohammed, who is also the Chairman, Contact Tracing Committee on COVID-19 in the state, said many people still believed that COVID-19 “is a fiction’’.

He added that some believed it was a way of getting money for the government.

Mohammed recounted to NAN, how one of the three confirmed cases recorded on Friday, May 15 rejected the result and declined to follow the health workers, who went to evacuate him to an isolation centre, insisting he wasn’t positive.

He said that in such a situation, security agents were usually engaged to compel the patient and escort him or her to an isolation centre for treatment.

“One of the things giving us problems in the course of tracing, testing and treating COVID-19 patients, is denial.

“We have some people, who say there is nothing like coronavirus in this world; it’s a lie and it’s just a way of getting money.

“As such, they reject all the necessary protocols put in place to contain the spread of the virus like washing of hands with soap, water and hand sanitiser or making use of face masks as well as maintaining social and physical distancing.

“We had three confirmed cases on the May 15.

“Out of this number, one of them here in Bauchi insisted, he was not positive and he would not come for admission.

“In Azare, we have another group who insisted that nobody is going to test them and their father is one of the three COVID-19 death cases recorded in the state.

“We have informed the chairman, state Task Force on COVID-19, Sen. Baba Tela, who is also the deputy governor of Bauchi State.

“We have also informed the Police, and soon, they will all be tested and the one, who tested positive will also be evacuated to an isolation centre,’’ Mohammed said.

He called on all media practitioners in the state to keep enlightening the people and make them more aware of COVID-19.

When people are well informed, they will start making decisions and the denial would be a thing of the past, he said.

Mohammed revealed that loss of the senses of smell and taste is a cogent sign of a suspected case of the coronavirus disease.

He, therefore, called on the people to support the fight against the deadly virus by adhering to all the preventive measures as advised by the government and health experts. (NAN)

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