The Federal Government has lamented that erratic electricity is hampering the nation’s COVID-19 responses, due to frequent breakdown of power sensitive medical equipment resulting in the disruption of services.
The Minister of States, Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, said this on Monday in Abuja at the joint national briefing of the taskforce.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for infrastructural development of the nation’s health system and that government is determined to address them.
This is as he said that as at Monday, we Nigeria has recorded 61440 confirmed cases from 578,841 persons tested for COVID while 56,611 cases have been discharged.
“We have sadly lost 1,125 persons to the disease. We now have 3,704 active cases as more persons are treated and discharged with case fatality rate of 1.8 percent.
“While most of those infected are between the ages of 21 and 40, the fatalities are higher among older groups especially those above 60 years with comorbidities. We are therefore advised to take responsibility and protect the older ones among us,” Mamora said.
He said that the government has distributed medical equipment like ventilators and oxygen concentrators to all the federal tertiary hospitals and the states.
“One of the challenges we have in our hospitals is irregular and unstable power supply. This leads to frequent breakdown of power sensitive medical equipment resulting in the disruption of services.
“We are exploring opportunities that will guarantee regular and stable power in our hospitals,” the minister said.
He, however said that, he met with the management of the Niger Delta Power Holdings Company (NDPHC), last Friday, to discuss a partnership that will ensure regular power supply to the nation’s teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres.
This partnership, the minister said, will not only ensure steady power supply, but reduce the overhead cost of the hospitals, and that the savings expected from this initiative will be ploughed into other areas of need in the hospitals.
“Our experience with managing the pandemic showed that many of those who died could have been saved if they had access to services on time. During our intervention in Kano, ambulances were deployed to evacuate cases especially critical conditions to hospitals for treatment.
“The National Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System (NEMSAS) is designed to provide Nigerians with prompt access to medical treatment when needed,” Mamora said.
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