Why medical personnel deserted Kano isolation centre

– Rice Mill shut over alleged pollution Churches shelve services to comply with lockdown

Lack of incentive and other challenges facing medical personnel in Kano State may jeopardise stakeholders’ efforts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the state.

Already medical personnel are abandoning the isolation centres set up by the state government.

Executive secretary, Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Tijani Hussain, narrated yesterday how a health worker abandoned the isolation facility due to poor allowance.

“We have had a situation where a medical personal left the facility frustrated. Not because he was not interest or ready to do the work, but he and much other personnel at the frontline are worried about their lives and that of their immediate families,” he said.

Dr. Tijani, while presenting the update on the fight against COVID-19 in Kano, advocated life insurance for medical personnel handling COVID-19 cases.

According to him, those offering their expertise deserve better working conditions and improved incentive.

Last week, four members of the taskforce, which he is a member, including the co-chairman, tested positive for the deadly virus, putting the total cases in Kano to 36.

The state’s Ministry of Environment has directed the immediate closure of Integrated Rice Mill, Tiamin Rice Limited, in the state.

The ‘Notice for closing Order’ signed by the director in charge of pollution at the ministry, Mustapha Mohammad, cited “air pollution that aggravates coronavirus patients” as major concern for the closure.

But the management of the mill insisted that the government’s claim on air pollution was unfounded and unjustifiable.

The Deputy Managing Director, Tiamin Rice, Alh. Aliyu Ibrahim, explained that the government’s unilateral decision to shut 320 metric tonnes daily capacity plant did not follow any known technical procedure or regulation to justify the action.

He stated, “To set the records straight, there are nearly 30 rice mills operating in Kano State, but our company is the only one affected by the order. The fact of the matter is that neither state nor federal health officials came to our premises to take any sample of the said pollution.”

Although the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) was exempted from the lockdown, the mill halted production for one week to put in internal measures against COVID-19, he said, wondering how a shut company could pollute the environment.

According to Aliyu, while the management seeks litigation against the government’s action, distributors should not panic over this temporary setback as a 600-tonne capacity plant that will soon be unveiled in Bauchi.

Meanwhile, in compliance with the total lockdown in Kano, churches in the state remain under lock.

Our correspondent, who went round the city to observe the level of compliance, reported total lockdown at Calvary Church of God at Nomansland, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church and Baptist Church both on France road, The Redeemed Christian Church of God and Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) on airport road.

Parish Priest of Our Lady of Fatima, Rev. Fr. Michael Adebola, affirmed the church’s total compliance to the total lockdown order in the wake of the deadly COVID-19.

Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kano chapter, Rev. Adeyemi Adeyemo, said the government had the authority to arrest any individual who ignored the order.