By Adebayo Obajemu
Going to private medical facilities is becoming more hazardous as the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, said on Sunday that about 17 hospitals in the state have been contaminated by the dreaded virus.
He said about 17 hospitals reached out to the Ministry of Health for assistance for being inadvertently exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19)patients.
My Abayomi said the ministry through one of its agencies, Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFEMAA), is helping the hospitals decontaminate while it has recommended that some of them stop admitting patients until the process is complete.
“They have to go through a process of Infection prevention and control training of all their staff and if they go through the HEFAMAA certification, they will receive guidelines on how to manage COVID-19 patients in the future should the case arise where government will partner with private sector to manage COVID-19.”
“This scenario may present itself if we begin to see very large numbers of cases on a day-to-day basis and the Lagos state facility may be overwhelmed,” Mr Abayomi said.
Mr Abayomi said the state is preparing the private sector through strict guidelines and certification on management and containment of COVID-19.
