The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, have donated ventilators to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital for the management of the coronavirus pandemic. READ ALSO: CBN Launches 50 Billion Economic Stimulus Package
The NNPC, according to the management of the hospital, donated six brand new ventilators while JAMB donated two.
The hospital also explained that some of the donated ventilators are those used for ambulance transportation of patients while the remaining are for in-patient critical care.
According to data provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Nigeria currently has 135 coronavirus cases, with about 25 of the cases being managed in Abuja.
“As far as ventilators are concerned, we are comfortable for now,” an official said.
“We are grateful to the NNPC, JAMB and other organisations and individuals identifying with us at this time of need.”
Asked about the situation of things in the hospital, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Bissallah Ekele, stated that the government is complementing the efforts of the health institution.
The CMD said: “All I can say is that government has been responding to our needs and we are doing well.”
Meanwhile, the shortage of ventilators in the country has been a source of concern for many Nigerians including lawmakers and public health experts.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, however, said, on Monday, that most of the cases handled so far in the country have been mild and as such the country might not need too many respirators to manage patients.
The ventilators, in the meantime, are needed to assist some coronavirus patients to breathe due danger the virus poses to the respiratory systems of affected persons.
Recall that individuals and private organisations in the country have joined the fight against the deadly disease as they contributed money and relief material to the federal government.
The outbreak of the pandemic has since crippled economic activities in the country, with various state governments restricting movements within their states through the imposition of a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
