Lagos state government has accredited three private hospitals for the treatment and management of coronavirus patients.
Commissioner for Health in Lagos, Akin Abayomi who made the announcement during a press briefing, said the accredited hospitals passed a biosecurity compliance test which was designed to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases.
He added that the accredited hospitals will still be under the supervision of the Lagos State Government Ministry of Health (LSMOH).
Abayomi said;
They have passed the biosecurity compliance test. They have made modifications to their hospitals so that their staff and other patients are not put in danger or exposed to a higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
Those private hospitals have passed the test and we are just in the process of issuing them with accreditation certificate so that they can start managing COVID19 patients in the private sector.
The Commissioner stated that;
Also, information about every patient managed by the hospitals must be made available to us so that we can record it in our database. COVID-19 remains a public crisis and all public crises are managed and supervised by the Lagos state government and by extension the federal government of Nigeria.
Abayomi has however described the management of COVID-19 patients by private facilities in the state without the knowledge and approval of the government as illegal.
The commissioner stressed that every COVID-19 patient in the state must be known to the government for adequate data capturing.
He said;
If you are managing COVID-19 without government permission and we are not capturing your cases in our database, you are performing an illegal act, according to the laws of Lagos State.
The commissioner emphasised that;
If you want to manage COVID-19 in Lagos State, we are not saying you cannot. All you need to do is to submit an application and we will visit your facility to ensure that you have the required equipment and specialised personnel to manage COVID-19 cases.
Abayomi noted that approval will be given if all conditions are met.
