“Why we don’t release COVID-19 test result to patients” – NCDC DG, Chikwe Ihekweazu
The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu has explained why the centre does not issue COVID-19 test results to patients who test positive.
He said NCDC does not deal directly with patients but with the state Epidemiologists who send test samples and also receive the test results from the centre.
The issue has been a subject of controversy in the media following the case of Susan Idoko-Okpe (Lawani) who accused the centre and the Benue State government of declaring her positive without showing her the result.
Susan who spent 58 days at the isolation centres in Benue state and Abuja before she was released last week had insisted that she would not submit herself for treatment without seeing the test result which shows she was truly infected with the virus. This led to her prolonged incarceration at the isolation centre shortly after her return from the United Kingdom.
Explaining how NCDC manages test results, Ihekweazu, during a webinar – “What’s the story behind Africa’s COVID-19 figure” – organised by Africa.com and monitored by Neusroom said: “Sending of result for an outbreak like this always goes through the state Epidemiologist.
“Our role is to provide the infrastructure for laboratory diagnosis, once the test is done, we disseminate the result to the state Epidemiologist who uses it for public health action.”
Ihekweazu added that because COVID-19 is a public health issue, states have designed their respective ways of releasing results and reaching out to patients who have tested positive for the virus.
