Federal Government says they do not know the whereabouts of the Chinese doctors

The Federal Government has said it does not know the whereabouts of the Chinese doctors and technicians who came into the country to offer assistance to Nigeria in the fight against the Coronavirus on the invitation of the government.

The shocking statement by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the containment of the Covid -19 in Abuja on Thursday came one month after the controversial arrival of the Chinese medical team.

The arrival of the Chinese doctors and technicians, had at the time generated strong criticisms, but the federal Government had dispelled such fears of their presence in the country, stressing that they were in the country to help.

But when asked specifically the whereabouts of the Chinese medical team at the daily briefing, Ehanire said: “I want to explain first of all that I think not all of them were doctors and I heard that some of them are technicians, but they are staff of CCECC, the Ministry of health is not their host, so we can’t always explain what happened to them or where they are.

“There seems to be a lot of interests in these doctors but they are the staff of a company and I think they are on the company visa. So I will be very happy if you don’t 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 from their experience in their country, we shared ideas about what they did in their country in managing Covid -19.

The 15-member Chinese medical team made up of doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians, arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on April 8, 2020, with medical equipment worth about $1.5 million, and went in for two week quarantine period accordgid-19 protocols.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus pandemic rPTF COVID-19, on Thursday decried the refusal of Nigeria returnees, to comply with quarantine rules.

Secretary to the government of the Federation, SGF and Chairman of the PTF COVID-19 response team, Boss Mustapha, who stated this in Abuja at the daily briefing of the task force expressed sadness over failure of some of the returnees to adhere with the laid down rules despite that they were well informed about the mandatory quarantine protocol.

The returnees are Nigerians recently evacuated from the UAE, UK & USA.