The Oyo State government has declared on Friday, that it has spent close to a billion naira in the ongoing fight against the Coronavirus pandemic in the State.
The State also said training of health experts that would work at the Infectious Disease Centre, Olodo, among other locations across the State, would begin on Saturday 4th April, 2020.
The disclosure was made on Friday by the Acting Chairman, Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force, Professor Temitope Alonge, when he received a delegation of top management staff of Zard Holdings, who were at the Olodo facility to donate materials to support the government’s effort at containing the virus.
The items donated include, 100 hospital beds, pillows, mattresses, bedside lockers and drop stands.
While receiving the items on behalf of the State government, Prof. Alonge said apart from the N500million committed to building laboratories, out of which the Olodo facility alone has gulped about N200million, close to N800million has been expended on the Intensive Care Unit, the High Dependency Unit and testing kits across the various isolation centres in the State.
Prof. Alonge expressed hope that the measures put in place in the State was already yielding results with the very few number of cases recorded and contact-tracing ongoing, adding that as at Friday, only eight cases were positive; one had been discharged, two have done exceptionally well and would hopefully be tested again because they had tested negative after quarantine period and the remaining five were in excellent health.
Alonge noted, “We still do not want to take chances and that is why we are preparing for a case scenario that may not be pleasant, meaning we may have a lot more patients than we have at the moment. We believe that the measures put in place by the Task Force are yielding results and to complement the efforts of the government, we are very grateful for these donations.
“And I want people to know that Governor Seyi Makinde is putting all efforts in place. Olodo is primarily a Treatment Centre, meaning all the worst case scenarios will be managed here, but as I speak the same efforts are put up in Ogbomosho and Saki,” he said.
Offers of free venues
Alonge disclosed that there have been offers from various organisations and individuals willing to donate various locations for use as facilities, saying a solidarity group had donated a whole bungalow in Felele area of the State and many private companies are partnering with the State government.
He stated, “Oyo State has the first private intensive care unit located at Iyaganku, a five-bedded facility. A company headed by medical doctors have approached us that in the event we have challenges, they are more than willing to leave their doors open. At whatever fees, we will be more than happy to ensure that people get the best of care.”
Contact tracing and training of health personnel
Speaking on contact-tracing, Alonge said close to 140 people are being tracked, although the concept is not to track them and ask them to leave their homes, as the level of contact is variable. He explained that only those who had close contact with positive cases would be monitored and quarantined but if there are no symptoms the issue would not be belaboured.
While saying that the materials donated would be shared among the centres across the State, he assured that the Olodo facility would be functional by Monday, saying the functionality of a system is not only in the structure but in first putting in place the system, which must flow appropriately.
Alonge disclosed, “Training is going to commence tomorrow (Saturday) for the health workers who are going to work here and once they are through with the training, and have water supply, electricity, oxygen pipes installed with ICU installed and others, they will be functionally ready. It does not mean that the patients are going to be referred here, unless they need it. However, if patients need to be admitted, we will be more than ready to admit them.
“We have fragmented the healthcare personnel that will be working here into four categories, we expect to have a maximum of 90 people, because healthcare delivery is not only for doctors, we have doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, medical lab scientists and we are encouraging training programmes with the clinical physiologists because fear has captivated people’s attention so much so that even the health care workers are scared,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the Group Property Manager of Zard Holdings, Prince Taiwo Oriowo, said the organisation comprising Zartech, Sweetco and Kopek Construction Company, decided to support the good intentions of the government because of the effort been made so far.
Source: VON
