Lagos, 15 May, 2020 / 4:23 am (ACI Africa).
The Archbishop of Lagos in Nigeria has sought to allay fears of people who are reluctant to access the Catholic run health facilities in the Archdiocese following the announcement that the government can use the health centers to give care to COVID-19 patients.
“The facilities remain open as usual and will continue to offer the quality services that they offer in a safe and secure environment,” Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins said May 12 and added, “Let no one entertain the fear that they would contract Coronavirus by using any of our facilities.”
This follows the May 11 announcement by Nigeria’s Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 that Catholic Bishops in the West African country had offered the government “full access” to their health facilities to be used as coronavirus isolation centers.
The collective decision by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference to Nigeria (CBCN) to avail the over 400 Catholic hospitals and clinics in Africa’s most populous country to the government toward the care of COVID-19 patients had been communicated on April 8.
This “has generated anxiety” among people with other ailments who have expressed their reluctant to access the Catholic health facilities for fear of contracting COVID-19.