Kaduna government says it is working to provide 20 beds to 30 beds stand-alone infectious disease treatment buildings in every general hospital of the state that has the space to accommodate it.
Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai disclosed in Kaduna while itemising steps taken forward in the COVID-19 containment efforts in the state.
The governor spoke during a state broadcast monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Kaduna.
According to him, enforcing the quarantine order allowed government the needed time to improve on the readiness of the health system and prevent it from being overwhelmed by an early wave of huge infections.
He said, “Covid-19 treatment capacity has been expanded to 150 beds from the initial 16 beds at the infectious disease centre inherited, which was also upgraded and renovated.’’
El-Rufai assured that in a few days, 70 more beds would be available in two centres across the state as the government had retrofitted two hotels into temporary isolation centres.
He said that the administration had begun construction of a new 136 beds infectious diseases treatment centre which was expected to be completed by month end.
“Our state health system is certainly stronger positioned now than it was three months ago.
“With the support of the NCDC and our development partners, the State Ministry of Health has enhanced its capacity for robust tracing of contacts, testing of suspected cases and treatment of all infected persons.”
He confirmed that “testing capacity has also increased, from having no testing laboratory in March; Kaduna now has three NCDC-accredited centres.
“We have received one mobile testing vehicle from USAID which has multiplied our ability to do random testing in communities”
He said that the state government had recently imported 9,800 testing kits for the GeneXpert machines that are already installed in health facilities, including the Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital, Kaduna.
“These kits will enable us to use the eight GeneXpert machines in government hospitals to test samples collected by our health teams, and they have already been validated.
“Our goal is to test at least 50,000 residents within the next one month to provide the state government reliable data on Covid-19 infections.”
El-Rufai added that apart from treating infected persons, the government was actively searching the world market to procure more test kits.
Kaduna government also announced the reopening of all social and financial sectors in the state but with the exception of schools and markets.
