Coronavirus: Twenty-One States Have Less Than 100 Bed Space – Mamora

The Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, at the daily Presidential Task Force briefing on Wednesday, stated that 21 states in the country have fewer than 100-bed spaces each for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The Minister further stated that only five states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has at least 300 beds space.

Mamora added that Nigeria has 112 treatment and isolation centres in the 36 states and the FCT with a total of 5,324 beds.

The minister said, “Though not surprising, we are concerned about the increasing number of confirmed cases. This is because very high cases could seriously exceed the capacity of our health system to cope. Routine cases may also suffer as a result. Therefore, non-pharmaceutical preventive approach is still our best strategy.”

“At present, we have a total of 112 treatment and isolation centres in all the 36 states and the FCT with 5,324 beds. While only five states including the FCT have at least 300 beds as prescribed for isolation and treatment, 21 states have less than 100-bed spaces.”

“As the number of confirmed cases increases, there is an urgent need to expand our treatment centres across the country. I, therefore, call on the state governors and philanthropists to take active and deliberate steps to scale up the number of beds for isolation and treatment of confirmed cases in their states.”

He noted that the Nigerian medical researchers working with foreign partners had been able to ascertain that the strain of COVID-19 in Nigeria was the same in Wuhan, China, where the virus first broke out.