COVID-19: Lagos opens triage and oxygen centre

The Lagos State Government on Monday commissioned a Permanent Triage and Oxygen Therapy Centre at Eti-Osa Local Government Area to handle COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms.

The centre was commissioned by the Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, who represented the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Speaking for the governor at the ceremony, Mr Abayomi said the centre will provide swift emergency oxygen therapy to patients in the area who require it.

He said the need to better manage severe-to-critical COVID19 cases spurred the state government to build and deploy the oxygen therapy centres in 10 high-burdened local government areas, including Eti-Osa.

The Eti-Osa triage and oxygen centre is located within the premises of the Eti-Osa Maternal and Child Care Centre and will double as a COVID1-19 sample collection centre.

It is one of 10 others strategically located in 10 local government areas of the state with high burden of COVID-19 cases, the commissioner disclosed.

The other centres located in Alimosho, Isolo, Surulere, Gbagada, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ibeju-Lekki, Apapa, Mushin and Amuwo-Odofin areas are almost completed and would be activated in two weeks, he added.

“One of the strategies adopted in response to the recent increase in COVID19 infection is the provision of the COVID19 Permanent Sample Collection Triage and Oxygen Therapy Centre in 10 local government areas across Lagos to support patients with oxygen before they are transferred to care centres,” he said.

He said the construction of the triage and oxygen centre is inevitable to prepare against the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given that Lagos state is recording increase in the number of people presenting with difficulty in breathing and requiring urgent oxygen therapy, the commissioner said the facility is vital.

The triage and oxygen centre is a permanent facility and will be an addition to the existing medical infrastructure in the state even after the pandemic.

The total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria rose to 84,811 on Monday after 397 new cases were recorded, with Lagos topping the chart with 144 cases out of the 397 reported that day.