Two French doctors are advocating for Africans to be used as guinea pigs by Western drug manufacturers looking for a way to test their coronavirus drugs.

The doctors said such COVID-19 drug tests should not be conducted on Europeans, instead should be done on Africans because “there’s poverty and other things over there, there are things we can experiment.”

Professors Camille Locht of Inserm, the French national medical research center, and Jean-Paul Mira of Cochin Hospital in Paris, were debating on French television last week when Jean-Paul Mira suggested that COVID-19 studies should be conducted on Africans, rather than Europeans.

Mira also compared testing potential coronavirus vaccines on African populations to AIDS studies being carried out on prostitutes who he said are typically more exposed to infections and diseases, and have less access to ‘treatment or intensive care’ than those in Europe and other Western countries.

Pour ceux qui sont pas au courant :https://t.co/PAoEvgb3iy

— SASUKÉ 2愛 (@PianYvan) April 2, 2020

African football stars Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Demba Ba and Mohamed Sissoko immediately condemned the comments, saying that what the two physicians are suggesting amounted to outright racism.

Drogba said it is inconceivable that Africans continue to tolerate such racism.

“It is inconceivable that we continue to accept this. Africa is not a laboratory,” the 42-year-old said.

He called the pair, “sons of b——”

Il est inconcevable que nous continuons à accepter ceci. L Afrique n est pas un laboratoire.
Je dénonce vivement ces propos graves, racistes et méprisants!

— Didier Drogba (@didierdrogba) April 2, 2020

“I strongly denounce these serious, racist and contemptuous remarks!” said Eto’o.

“Help us save lives in Africa and stop the spread of this virus which is destabilizing the whole world, instead of considering ourselves as guinea pigs.

“It’s absurd! African leaders have a responsibility to protect people from these heinous plots ”

Sissoki, a former Liverpool defender called the comments “a scandal” and said actions should be taken against the professors.

“What the two doctors said is really a scandal,” ex-Mali international Sissoko said. “I can’t understand why they weren’t fired, and I can’t understand why there hasn’t been more commentary about the things they said.

“You really have to condemn this sort of discourse and take the necessary measures, because the remarks they made about African people are completely inadmissible.

“At this point, we must really be aware that this is not a joke,” he added. “When you make such statements against African people, or against any people, you must be measured and be aware of what you’re saying.”

“Africa hasn’t been touched [by Covid-19] compared to Europe, but clearly [the doctors] said ‘as there’s poverty and other things over there, there are things we can experiment’,” Sissoko continued, “but it shouldn’t happen like that.

“Close friends who I’ve spoken to about this are really wound up by what they said, and these kinds of comments are unacceptable, particularly in a country like France.”

Before coronavirus (COVID-19) you could always count on Nigeria’s elite to ignore the plight of ordinary citizens.

From the President to state governors and permanent secretaries, the only thing that mattered was their close families. They didn’t care about the rest of the people.

For decades, the federal government of Nigeria failed to invest the needed funds to upgrade health and medical infrastructures throughout the country, preferring to fly to US, England, the Middle East or India, when they needed medical care.

The result is a complete breakdown of hospitals and other medical infrastructures to the point where most Nigerians fear going to government-owned hospitals for fear of dying while waiting to see a physician, or picking up an infection while there.

My family and I were in Nigeria last year and visited a hospital in Ikorodu, Lagos area. The condition in that hospital was deplorable to put it mildly.

With the advent of COVID-19, Nigeria’s elite can no longer escape the reality of the condition of the country’s health infrastructure.

Coronavirus is forcing them to face reality.

President Muhammadu Buhari closed the country’s borders and announced the lockdown of Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State in response to the initial outbreak of the disease last month.

He grounded commercial flights and forced private jets to stay on the ground, meaning the elite cannot fly out of the country to get medical attention and relief.

Like most countries, Nigeria is isolated from the rest of the world.

As if things can’t get any worse for the rich and famous, coronavirus has proven that it does not discriminate on the basis of wealth or zip code.

In 2017, Buhari received a lot of criticism for spending about six months in London getting medical attention for an undisclosed ailment. Today, Buhari is forced to sit in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and pray that he or members of his family do not get sick.

So far, nearly 200 Nigerians have tested positive including Abba Kyari, Buhari’s chief of staff, one of the most powerful men in the country. Four state governors and a son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have also tested positive.

Top government officials, including numerous state governors have gone into self quarantine. If their COVID-19 infections develop into full blown illnesses, they will have no choice but to use the services of the healthcare system they refused to fund or maintain for decades.

The problem, according to medical professionals is that besides the lack of adequate infrastructure in the country, the healthcare system cannot handle a mass outbreak of COVID-19.

According to Francis Faduyile, head of the Nigerian Medical Association, the nation’s umbrella group for medical doctors, the healthcare system will collapse should there be mass outbreak.

“The health system is not strong enough. After years of not improving the system, you know it can’t handle mass infection,” Faduyile told us by phone from Lagos this week.

“Over the years, it’s been denied adequate funding and things are not where they’re supposed to be. If the burden of the coronavirus is added, it may be too heavy; it may actually cause a total collapse.

“If we get a mass outbreak, the healthcare system will be in serious trouble,” he added.

Nigeria’s health ministry said it has 75,000 registered doctors, 180,709 nurses and 25,000 pharmacists, but over the years, about 50 percent of them have moved abroad, mostly to Canada, U.S., and England, in search of higher pay and better working conditions, leaving the country in dire straits.

Nigeria currently has less than 10 beds to 1,000 people, a ratio that falls far below World Health Organization’s (WHO) standards. To make matters worse, only five hospitals in the country are equipped to test for COVID-19 and other major infectious diseases.

Faduyile told The Nigerian Community the federal government still has time to make the needed changes to avoid mass casualties from coronavirus but he said that window of opportunity is closing fast.

“We don’t have time to waste. If nothing is done soon, many Nigerians may pay a heavy price for years of neglect.”

He added that this is going to be a lesson for the elite.

“It’s going to be a lesson for those who think they can neglect the health system,” Faduyile said. “The highest of the government officials, some of them will be infected, and they’ll have no option but to get local treatment.”

This is the lesson Nigeria’s elite are learning the hard way: Fix your own backyard. Stop running abroad everytime you sneeze because a time may come when you will need your local hospitals. That time is now.

The Nigerian recently diagnosed with coronavirus infection in Washington D.C., first visited Lagos last month before heading to the United States according to Nigeria’s Health Minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire.

It is not clear which area of Nigeria the man came from.

Dr. Osagie also announced that another Nigerian has been infected with COVID-19.

The first infection in Nigeria was announced last month. The man, who is from Italy was said to have traveled from Milan area in Italy, to Abeokuta.

Dr. Osagie, speaking in Lagos said that given the timelines of the infections, it is unlikely that the man diagnosed in U.S. was infected in Lagos.

He also announced that Nigeria’s health authorities are in constant contact with their U.S. counterparts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA.

“On the case reported in the US of Nigerian origin, we are in touch with colleagues at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and here in Abuja. The case visited Lagos in February 2020,” the minister said in a statement released to the media.

“The Federal Ministry of Heath, and Lagos and Ogun States Health Ministries assure citizens of our commitment to do all needed to control spread of this outbreak. Since the first case was confirmed in Nigeria last month, the National Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) in Abuja, continues to work closely with Lagos and Ogun State EOCs to coordinate response activities.

“I again strongly advise against spreading misinformation to cause fear and panic. The Federal Ministry of Health and NCDC will continue to provide prompt and reliable updates and initiate all measures required to protect our people,” he continued.