There are frightening signs that health facilities would soon be overwhelmed in many Nigerian cities in the next few days in the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise at the current pace.Presently there are very few bed-spaces left in most centers for patients in isolation for the treatment of COVID 18.
Just on Saturday, COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 12,233, with 8, 065 of them active and 3,826 patients discharged.
The Federal Ministry of Health had revealed to the media on Friday that that there were 6,994 bed-spaces nationwide for COVID-19 patients. Although they added that only few states such as Lagos and Kano were battling with a shortage of bed-spaces.
The ministry also revealed that it has an alternative plan of home treatment for COVID-19 patients, especially those with no symptoms. They however added that home care would not be adopted for coronavirus patients with underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
They equally stressed that states were making efforts to increase the number of bed-spaces for COVID-19 patients. In the words of the Nigerian health ministry, “The shortage of bed-spaces is occurring in only a few states such as Lagos and Kano where efforts are ongoing for expansion of bed-spaces, while some such as the FCT and Ogun State have low bed occupancy rates due to fewer numbers of confirmed or active cases.”
