COVID-19: Minister Of FCT Inspects New Treatment, Isolation Centre

Musa Bello, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, on Wednesday inspected a five-story building which will serve as an isolation and treatment facility for patients diagnosed with Coronavirus in Abuja.

The minister which was accompanied by senior officials of the FCTA noted that the facility could be ideal as an isolation and treatment facility.

Bello in a statement said, “the most critical thing is that this place has a lot of space. We are talking of five floors.”

“I don’t think the whole of Abuja will have a hospital facility that can accommodate up to five floors. More importantly, there is power here constantly, and there is an adequate water supply.”

The minister called on relevant health authorities to further inspect the facility to determine its suitability.

He said, “I leave it now for the officials of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and of course our public health officials. Jointly, they will decide what needs to be done here and we have a lot of commitment from the private sector organizations who are willing to support the national efforts to fight this disease. Once they all agree, I’m sure that within a very short period of time, this place can be made functional.”

Dr Muhammed Kawu, the acting secretary of health and human services secretariat, in his statement stated that the facility was adequate and can be converted into a 300-bed facility.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Josephine Okechukwu said the structure was ideal and would serve the purpose as a treatment centre.

She said “this is a perfect place that we have been looking for and it’s quite good. It’s a new structure with so many available rooms that we can fix up for now as a holding centre or a treatment centre if need be.”