NMA disagrees with FG over school resumption

Doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association have faulted the Federal Government’s directive that schools should resume on September 22 as against October 12.
The Lagos NMA Chairman, Dr. Tope Ojo, who spoke to our correspondent in Lagos on Monday, said the Federal Government should rather have postponed the resumption date till when active surveillance and monitoring of contacts in some states were over.
Ojo said many of the public and private schools were not equipped with basic hygiene and sanitary facilities that could help check the spread of the virus among the children should any of them have had contact with those being monitored.
Ojo said, “It would not have cost the Federal Government anything to have waited till those under surveillance have completed the 21 days in all the states where they are being monitored.

“It takes longer for children to get used to the idea of hygiene and sanitation. They are even more vulnerable because they would play with each other either they are sick or not.
“How many children know that they should use hand sanitisers or avoid contact with anybody that has fever? Waiting till October, when at least the situation in Rivers and Lagos states have been conclusively managed is another safety measure they should have taken. These kids are not studying to get a degree, so am sure it would not have affected the school’s curriculum.”
The immediate president of the NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, expressed worries about the safety parameters that the Federal Government had used to decide the resumption date in the first place.
Enabulele said many are not convinced that schools have met the safety standards for the prevention of Ebola.
According to him, this is the time for government to check safety and sanitary facilities in registered schools and those who fall short of these requirements should not be allowed to operate.
Enabulele said, “We must know the parameters that the Federal Government used to get to the resumption date in the first place. Has the Federal Government carried out a safety assessment in registered schools in the country? There should be a check list and only those who meet it should be certified fit to reopen.
“The minimum standard is that all schools should have a dispensary, a sick bay where sick children especially those with fever are properly managed and tested. I’m worried that these facilities are not in place, then why are they rushing them back to school?”
“They must convince parents that school authorities have the understanding of the basic symptoms of the disease and that the schools have the basic preventive, protective and basic management measures in place. If government can do that, parents will be confident to let their kids resume.”
A consultant paediatrician with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba, Prof. Edamisan Temiye , called on government at all levels to ensure that schools in the country have access to water in their premises.
The former NMA chairman also warned parents not to force sick children to go to school as this could expose other kids to infections.
Temiye said, “Government must ensure that water is flowing in schools, so that children can wash their hands with clean water. Water is important for sanitation and it is a duty of government to ensure that citizens have access to it.
“Also parents should take sick children to the hospital. Don’t give them drugs and force them to go to school. Ebola can only be caught from a sick person. School authorities should watch out for sick kids, isolate them from others and take them to the hospital where they can get the proper treatment immediately.”