Gombe State Government says it will recruit psychologists and provide recreational facilities at isolation centres to help patients adjust to the realities of coronavirus while on quarantine.

Mr Ibrahim Kwami, Gombe Commissioner of Information and Culture, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Thursday.

According to him, the action is borne out of government’s effort at ensuring that patients are well taken care of psychologically to cope with the new reality of having to stay in such centres.

“Some patients were saying that they had been incarcerated and no one is taking care of their families back home. This whole issue is not even about their welfare but psychological.

“If you are even confined in your own home, that psychological feeling is there but now the government is trying to recruit psychologists to be talking to them and counselling them.

“The psychologists will make them understand the reality of COVID-19 for the general good of everyone. We are keeping them to care for them and protect the larger society,’’ he said.

Kwami added that the government would provide all recreational facilities within isolation centres to keep them engaged for proper care and to reduce the risk of community transmission.

He said that while the state government was making efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state, the public should cooperate with the government to fight the pandemic by adhering to health authorities’ directives.

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