The whereabouts of Chinese medical team brought into the country last month has been made known by Osagie Ehanire, Nigeria’s Health Minister.
TODAY POLITICS recalls that 18-member medical team had arrived the country early last month. The Presidential Task Force (PTF) which defended their arrival, amidst rejection by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said they came to assist Nigeria fight against Coronavirus disease cases, which began to rise in the country at the time.
After their arrival, a presidential aide, Bashir Ahmed, tweeted that the team will undergo 14 days isolation before embarking on their mission.
In case you are looking for this, the Chinese medical team that arrived Abuja today to assist Nigeria in its fight against #COVID19, would be spending 14 days in quarantine before they begin their operation in the country.
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) April 8, 2020
Since then nothing has been heard of the said medical team, until yesterday when Mr Ehanire asked Nigerians to stop questioning him on the whereabouts of the purported missing team popularly referred to as Chinese Doctors.
He clarified that the team, some of which are not medical practitioners, came at the instance of China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
“On the Chinese Doctors, I want to, first of all, explain that I think not all of them were doctors and I think that I heard that some of them are Technicians but they are staff of CCECC,” he said on Thursday at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 which he is also a member.
“The Ministry of Health is not their host. So, we cannot always explain what happened to them or where they are. There seems to be a lot of interest in these doctors but they are staff of the company and I think they are on the company visa.
“So, I will be very happy if you do not ask me about where they are because they are not really our guests in that sense. But we have been able to learn some things from them by interacting with them on their experiences in their country.We have shared experiences as to what they did in their country, how they managed their Covid-19,” Ehanire added.
