Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria has announced that the demand for oxygen by coronavirus patients has increased to 400 cylinders per day.
Sanwo-Olu made this known on Sunday in a statement in which he updated residents on the management of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state.
He reiterated that oxygen is free in all Lagos State-owned COVID-19 treatment centres.
“Considering that oxygen demand has spiked to between 300 and 400 cylinders per day across state-owned treatment facilities, the government is working hard to ensure availability.
“To this end, a second oxygen plant is under construction at the Gbagada General Hospital and will come on-stream in the next seven days.
“It is expected that this will boost the in-house capacity and availability of oxygen across all state government-managed treatment centres,´´ the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu said that the Lagos State Government was making efforts to transform the state-owned isolation centre in Gbagada into a fee-paying facility people could elect to be treated at.
He said that the decision was due to the growing clamour by patients and families who were willing to pay for COVID-19 treatment, but would like to do so at a cost that was lower than what was currently obtainable at private facilities.
“This means that the COVID treatment facility in Yaba will continue to offer free and high-quality treatment to all persons.
“Gbagada centre will offer treatment at a moderated and affordable cost to those who wish to take advantage of extra offerings like private treatment rooms and more personalised levels of care,´´ Sanwo-Olu said.
The state government has established a telemedicine service, EKOTELEMED, for patients who are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms that do not require admission and could, therefore, be managed in the comfort of their homes.
EKOTELEMED is manned by well-trained medical personnel and available on toll-free line, 08000EKOMED (08000356633).
Governor Sanwo-Olu encouraged as many people as possible, whose cases fell in the asymptomatic or mild category, to take advantage of the EKOTELEMED service.
Sanwo-Olu added that so far, about 5,000 patients have been reached through EKOTELEMED and more than a thousand care packs delivered to patients in the home-based care programme.