Coronavirus: Some Patients In Lagos Are Running From Isolation Facilities – Health Commissioner

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi has on Friday revealed that many people who tested positive for coronavirus are running away from being taken to isolation centres for treatment.

Abayomi said this is one of the reasons the state still has unoccupied beds at the isolation centres despite recording more cases than its bed-capacity.

He spoke at the state secretariat on Friday while responding to the question on the discrepancy between the occupancy of the isolation centres and the number of active cases in the state.

He stated;

There is also a situation that we experience, when we test people, sometimes they find it difficult to find them. The ambulances will go into community, people will flee their homes, and they make it difficult for us to find them.

He added that the patients do not answer their phones as well.

The commissioner said this happens because people are afraid to go to the isolation centres.

He however noted that the ministry has “no time to start hunting people around the community”, adding that;

If you have tested positive, we expect you to cooperate with us and make yourself available so that you can be admitted and assessed.

Our isolation facilities are really comfortable, it is not like the Ebola days, we have made a lot of improvements.

Abayomi stressed that;

Members of the executive and senior people in government have been admitted into those facilities. If I test positive, I will go to one of those facilities.

The commissioner said Lagos residents have nothing to be afraid of as the staff are very professional.

He expressed that the state still has about 307 unoccupied beds out of the 569 total bed spaces available in the state because most patients are yet to be admitted, while most are on the run after testing positive for coronavirus.

Abayomi said the state has 569 bed-capacity and 45 per cent percent overall occupancy, while 307 bed spaces are available.

He added that;

We have just opened Gbagada Hospital and we are yet to admit most of the patients we want to admit into Gbagada. As soon as we fill Gbadaga up, our occupancy will increase to over 70 or 80 percent.

Below is a breakdown of the isolation centres and bed-capacity in Lagos state as at Friday, May 8th;

– Gbagada Hospital- 118
– Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) – 60
– Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba -115
– Onikan Stadium Centre – 100
– Landmark Centre- 70
– Lekki Centre- 45
– Agidingbi Centre – 34
– First Cardiology Hospital – 5 (Critical case).

As at May 7th, Lagos has 1,491 active cases of coronavirus, 406 discharged patients and 33 causalities.