‘How Nigeria-China collaboration can prevent Coronavirus infection, spread’

A medical expert and chairman of Global Prolife Alliance (GPA), Prof. Philip Njemanze, has said that Nigeria and the Peoples’ Republic of China must collaborate in response to Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic and prevent its infection in Nigeria.

Njemanze is a member of the Nigeria-China Business Forum and the Medical Director of Chidicon Medical Centre and International Institutes of Advanced Research and Training in Owerri.

He expressed concern that the return of over 300,000 Chinese nationals and even many more Nigerians who travel to China for commerce would pose enormous challenges in the on-going pandemic spread of coronavirus around the world.

Speaking with journalists in Owerri, the Imo State capital, Njemanze said Nigeria should procure fitted mobile hospital systems with isolation battle-field type tents that could house about 100 patients at each location.

He added that to confront the medical challenges, the Nigeria-China collaboration should cover provision of tracking based on Passenger Name Record (PNR) for all flights from China

He advocated that a mobile hospital detection unit should be placed at the major Nigerian ports of entry that would provide clinical screening and sample collection for on-site laboratory diagnosis with real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) stationed at major International airports in Abuja, Lagos and Port-Harcourt.

According to him, the RT-PCR tests could provide rapid diagnosis within minutes because it is the most reliable way to diagnose the disease.

Njemanze said: “The traveler could be cleared for entry into Nigeria within minutes without long delays. In the case of detection of an infection, the traveller could be taken by isolation-ambulance to any of the military base hospitals in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.

“We suggest that all three military base hospitals should be fitted with container-type mobile hospitals with isolation facilities provided for quarantine of patients. The Nigeria-China collaboration should cover provision of tracking based on Passenger Name Record (PNR) for all flights from China.

According to him, “Chinese health officials have reported thousands of infections with 2019-nCoV in China, with the virus reportedly spreading from person-to-person in many parts of China, and recently in the United States and Europe.”