The Nigeria Police Medical Services (NPMS) in collaboration with National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) is carrying out free Covid-19 test on Police personnel in FCT Abuja.

Vanguard gathered that the test which targets 2000 personnel of the Force in the first phase, started on Friday, at the Muhammadu Buhari Police Hospital, Abuja.

The excercise is said to be at no cost to the Police personnel and is being sponsored by the NCDC. The NPMS is only providing their facility, police personnel and other logistics for the tests.

One of the officers of the NPMS who spoke to our Correspondent on strict condition of anonymity said, “We are hoping to test 2000 Police Personal in the first phase in two days and will continue from there. With that, we will know many more we need to do, how many positive cases we have, so that we will know how to balance it up and not expose everyone unnecessarily to the virus.

“This is because, the Force Headquarters is where most police officers in Abuja work. One unidentified positive person can actually infect a whole lot of people in the building. We are trying to be proactive to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. This is what the Nigeria Covid-19 Pandemic Protocol encourages; voluntary testing.

“The fortunate thing is that, the test is voluntary and confidential irrespective of the number of persons that we get to test. Their results will never come to NPMS, their results are personal. It goes to them. Anyone that is positive may now come to us for treatment.

“So far, the NCDC is doing a fantastic job, they came with about 20 to 30 personnel and the tests are being carried out by them. It is a rapid diagnostic test.”

He further stated that, the Commissioner of Police, NPMS, Olubunmi Ogunsanwo has gone into this strategic collaboration with the NCDC to ensure that, every police personnel know their Covid-19 status.

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, the NPMS has been on top of the situation, ensuring that officers and men of the Force who are responsible for the enforcement of Covid-19 Pandemic protocol are not exposed unnecessarily to the deadly virus.

One of the beneficiaries of the free Covid-19 test expressed happiness over the excercise.

He said, “I am happy that I did my Covid-19 test. It is a good thing to know one’s status. It will help you to take very good care off your health, and to prevent spreading the virus to your loved ones and colleagues.

“It is not something that people should be afraid of. If you are positive, there are medications to be taken and once it is detected earlier, the possibility of having complications that may likely kill the individual would not be there.

“Early detection, early treatment, early prevention of spread to other people and early contact tracing of positive contacts. I don’t feel bad about it, it is just like a normal laboratory test. It is not painful, it is just nassal irritation.

“My advice is that, every officer should make him or her self available for the test. It will help us.”

Meanwhile, the Officer in Charge and Chief Medical Director of Police Hospital, Garki and Muhammadu Buhari Police Hospital, FCT Police Command, ACP (Dr.) Chinonyerem Lawrence Welle and other officers of the NPMS, including ACP (Dr.) Tunde Titus Adegbite and CSP (Dr.) Olabanjo Fayose were on ground to supervise the excercise.