-YOMMY AYILARA.
We Are Struggling At The Moment For Bed Spaces In Lagos -NCDC DG
The Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday, the 30th of April made a clamour about insufficient bed spaces to accommodate COVID-19 patients in isolation centres.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said Lagos State is the worst-hit by this challenge of insufficient bed spaces although Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are also affected.
He made this statement in response to questions from reporters at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.
Ihekweazu said that although there are about 3,500 bed spaces accessible across the country, this is inadequate and it leaves the infectious disease control agency to struggle.
He said;
“In response to the question about bed spaces. There is not doubt about that, we are struggling in certain places especially in Lagos. To an extent Kano and Abuja too but the biggest challenge right now is in Lagos where bad spaces are really tight.
“Across the country we have about 3500 bed spaces identified as available for COVID-19 but in Lagos we are really struggling. So, we are going to keep trying to work with them to make more spaces available and ultimately,”
The DG noted that due to this challenge, there might be need for a change of technique and start dealing with some patients at home.
In his words;
“We might have to change our strategy a little bit and start considering home care in certain circumstances where the person is able to provide a room where a patient can be managed sufficiently and secondly, we are able to support the care by enabling healthcare workers come to that.
“We will always be honest with Nigerians, we are struggling at the moment we might have to adapt that strategy because of the reality we have faced over the next few days and weeks”
Nigeria currently has 1,932 verified cases of COVID-19 across 34 states of the country including the Federal Capital Territory. 319 people have been discharged and 58 deaths have been recorded.
