The Federal Government has said that as the number of confirmed coronavirus [COVID-19] cases increase in the country it may not have the capacity to cope with their isolation and treatment.
The minister of state for health, Olorunimbe Mamora, said this on Wednesday at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing.
Mamora, thus, appealed to philanthropists to set up treatment centres across the country.
He said,
“As the number of confirmed cases increases, there is an urgent need to expand our treatment centres across the country. I, therefore, call on the state governors and philanthropists to take active and deliberate steps to scale up the number of beds for isolation and treatment of confirmed cases in their states.”
Explaining the dire situation, Mamora noted that 21 states have fewer than 100-bed spaces each for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
He added that only five states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had at least the prescribed 300 beds.
The minister also stated the country has 112 treatment and isolation centres in the 36 states and the FCT with a total of 5,324 beds.
He said,
“Though not surprising, we are concerned about the increasing number of confirmed cases. This is because very high cases could seriously exceed the capacity of our health system to cope. Routine cases may also suffer as a result. Therefore, non-pharmaceutical preventive approach is still our best strategy.
“At present, we have a total of 112 treatment and isolation centres in all the 36 states and the FCT with 5,324 beds. While only five states including the FCT have at least 300 beds as prescribed for isolation and treatment, 21 states have less than 100 bed spaces.
The health minister said the Nigerian medical researchers working with foreign partners had been able to ascertain that the strain of COVID-19 in Nigeria was the same in Wuhan, China, where the virus first broke out.
