COVID-19: Obaseki Commissions 4th Molecular Laboratory

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, commissioned the fourth coronavirus (COVID-19) molecular laboratory in the state today.

According to him, the laboratory was built in order to boost testing capacity for the disease in the state and contain the pandemic.

Commissioning the testing facility at Lily Hospital in Benin City, Obaseki said: “The Lily molecular laboratory is the first privately owned PCR laboratory in the South-south region of the country. Several investments have continued to flood the state following the conducive environment created in the state. Lily Hospital has invested in a molecular laboratory that has the capacity to test for COVID-19.”

He noted that healthcare is both an economic and social good, adding that Government can’t be in competition with private businesses.

Obaseki noted that as a government, private people would be encouraged to come and invest in healthcare in Edo State.

He noted that the goal of his administration is to make Edo State the healthcare hub of the region, by focusing on primary healthcare.

“The bulk of resources spent on healthcare would be spent in ensuring that there is one healthcare centre within a 5-to-10km radius of where you live and it will deal with basic illnesses and help citizens understand their health status.”

According to him, “We will also be investing in specialised care centres. The Edo Specialist Hospital will be expanded with the help and support of the private sector. We are rebuilding the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, which we are currently using as an isolation centre. By the end of the pandemic, that hospital will be converted to a full-scale specialist hospital. We will similarly build two such hospitals in the other two senatorial districts of the state.”