The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu yesterday commissioned a self-contained 20 bed holding bay and high care unit at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to isolate suspected Covid-19 patients/cases to avoid further exposure of other patients before their test results come out.
Sanwo-Olu, represented by the first lady, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu at the commissioning of the Covid-19 facility, worth over N60 million said, as Lagos State continues to be the epic centre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria with concerted efforts as a State to flattening the curve of the pandemic both in State and the nation at large, the holding bay is important in curtailing the spread of the virus.
She said before now, the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital had to make do with a Quarantine/Holding Bay which was opened in August, 2020 for suspected COVID-19 patients, where over 200 suspected cases have been seen and over 30 patients have been admitted for treatments and some transferred to other various isolation centres across the State for intensive care and observation as the case may be.
Sanwo-olu said in the light of the foregoing, the State has seen the need to have an Isolation Bay in LASUTH for confirmed cases and high care intensive care unit with high-tech medical equipment and personnel that will provide specialised high care services to confirmed patients and allow for LASUTH to manage and treat not just COVID-19 cases and its complications but other forms of contagious diseases in the long run.
“While our efforts at managing the pandemic has been largely successful considering the number of cases that have been successfully treated and the reduction in the number of new cases, it is important to emphasise that now is not the time for us to rest on our oars, but rather a time to remain conscious of the pandemic and to continue to intensify efforts at flattening the curve,” he said.
The Cheif Medical Director, LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo said the Holding Bay was donated by Hon. Idowu Osuolale Obasa. The bay was built due to concern that all the isolation areas in the country were open wards clearly dedicated to the care of COVID-19 positive cases with suspected cases not admitted thereby exposing the public to infection.
He said the number of cases seen by extension the suspected cases, which skyrocketed at the peak of the pandemic made it necessary to build the Covid-19 holding area and high care unit which he said has provision for six intensive care units with high tech medical equipment and personnel that will provide specialised high care services.
He lamented that hospitals hardly take in suspected cases of COVID-19 before being confirmed positive, which makes the patient susceptible to infecting the public.
He said as a tertiary institution it will provide advanced medical care through the high care unit to COVID-19 patients with respiratory challenges and ensure that they are treated properly.
Also speaking the Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi said COVID-19 has not gone, but the state has been able to reduce the panic it caused and subsequently able to flatten the curve.
“I held a meeting with the CMD and members of the Board of Directors of LASUTH to state the role of a tertiary academic institution in combating COVID-19. My advice was that they shouldn’t be involved in the day-to-day treatment of COVID-19 but concentrate on complicated cases. Cases that cannot be managed in any of the standard Isolation Centres,” he said.
