The Guild of Medical Directors (GMD) has declared that all patients who attend any private facility nationwide would be deemed COVID-19 positive until proved otherwise.

The patients will also be required to comply with a protocol, which includes temperature check, compulsory handwashing before consultation, use of hand sanitisers and possible temporary isolation.

The move followed the recent exposure of some medical doctors to the virus by patients, who failed to disclose their true travel history.

GMD President Prof. Femi Dokun-Babalola, in a statement, regretted that three members had died, not because they wanted to treat COVID-19 patients as speculated but because they inevitably came across the sick persons.

Dokun-Babalolaalso appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health to assist private hospitals with protective kits, saying the COVID-19 crisis does not mean other illnesses have ceased to exist.

He faulted the Federal Government for allegedly creating the impression that private medical practitioners knowingly treat COVID-19 patients for financial reward.

“The impression that private hospitals in Nigeria are keen to treat patients with COVID-19 infection, perhaps for monetary gain, must be dispelled. Permit me to mention that three of our colleagues have already died.

‘ Dr. AliyuYakubu, proprietor of Daura Clinics and Medical Centre in Katsina State, Dr. Dominic Essien of San Dominic Hospital in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and Dr. Emeka Chugbo, a well-renowned obstetrician who died recently in Lagos.

“The death of Dr. Chugbo is perhaps illustrative of the dilemma faced by private practitioners in Nigeria. He was an obstetrician who carried out a Cesarean Section on a COVID-19 patient and he had no idea the patient was positive. It is clear he would not have undertaken the operation if he had that knowledge.

“At the same time, the patient in question did not display any signs or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. To Dr. Chugbo, she was just a pregnant patient in distressed labour. The facts of her infection only became known after the surgery was carried out at which point the infection had been passed to our demised colleague.”