The Nasarawa State Chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) says 102 healthcare workers in the state have been infected with COVID-19.

The state NMA Chairman, Dr Peter Umaru, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lafia.

Umaru and Dr Peter Idoko, President of Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), are among the infected health workers.

However, both of them have been discharged, after testing negative.

According to Umaru, 102 healthcare workers were infected out of the 292 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state as at July 22.

The NMA chairman said that 77 of the healthcare workers were from public facilities while 25 were from private facilities.

He explained that 16 of the healthcare workers were from Karu, 42 from Keffi, seven from Nassarawa-Eggon, and 37 from Lafia.

He regretted that one of the infected persons died.

On his recovery from the infection, Umaru thanked God for saving him.

He also praised the medical personnel and the management of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH), Lafia, for their support during his treatment period.

He advised frontline health workers to always observe the protective protocols while attending to patients.

He urged the state government to give priority attention to healthcare workers who, he noted, risked their lives in the fight against novel coronavirus.

Also commenting on the recovery of Umaru and Idoko, both of whom are all staff of DASH, Dr Hassan Ikrama, Chief Medical Director of DASH, expressed joy.

“We are really elated that they responded to treatment given to them by our medical team, and recovered speedily from the COVID-19″.

“The truth is that most of our staff got infected from the community especially during the strike action”.

“We wish to advise our staff to observe standard operating practice both at home and within the hospital to ensure they do not get infected,” he said. (NAN).