Yahaya Bello. Kogi Governor. |
The Kogi Chairman of
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Dr. John Ibenu, has commended
the State Government on its level of preparedness in case of any incidence of
Covid-19 in the state.
Ibenu gave the
commendation when the Chairmen of both CAN and the Council of ULA’MA in Kogi
had a meeting with the officials of the State Ministry of Health, in
Lokoja.
Ibenu noted that he
was at the ministry last week to meet with the Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka
Audu, to ascertain the level of Government’s preparation towards the
containment of Covid-19 in case of eventuality in the state.
”So, as a medical
doctor, and as CAN Chairman who is in charge of people, what I have seen and
heard here today, I am satisfied with the level of preparedness by the state
government.
”Anybody that has
anything contrary should physically come to the ministry of health for
confirmation. We have also seen the effectiveness of the self assessment
App.
”As religious body, we
are here to protect the public and we will do everything possible to make sure
that everyone is protected that people do not get infected.
We are here to allay
the fear of everyone and assure them that Kogi Government is doing its best to
keep the state from having Covid-19,” Ibenu said.
He urged the people to
make use of the seven hotlines that the State Government has provided, saying
anybody who has doubt should come to the ministry of health for
confirmation.
The CAN chairman,
however, advised the ministry to have a press briefing once or twice a week to
update the general public on the state’s preparedness on Covid-19.
”The religious
body are fully ready to cooperate with the state government on the Covid-19
issues even if it becomes necessary to lockdown Kogi State, we are ready to
cooperate and do so,” Ibenu said.
On his part, Mallam
Abubakar Aliyu, the state Chairman of Council of Ula’ma, commended the state
government for its efforts, but insisted that the Nigeria Centre for Disease
Control (NCDC) should have testing centres in all the 36 States of the
federation.
Aliyu stressed that
the fight against Covid-19 pandemic remained a collective responsibility of
all, saying, ”we must together join hands to contain the dreaded
pandemic”.
Responding, the
Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Babamaaji Abubakar, said the state was
fully prepared to handle any incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic, but not
praying for it.
”We already have more
than 113 beds, four Isolation centres with many laboratory equipment. ”There
will be no need for more than one or two ventilators for now, since a
ventilator can serve a 100 patients of Covid-19 using tubing, and no incidence
yet in Kogi,” he said.
He added that the
state had invited NCDC for validation of Genexpert and PCR Machines for
Covid-19 testing, launched Self Risk Assessment App, set up GPRS Tracking
control centre for case monitoring, and organised awareness programme for
citizens.
”We have trained
and retraining of health workers, procured PPEs and other medical consumables,
medical equipment like thermometers, multichannels patients monitor, and
automated laboratory equipment.”, he said.
Mr Umameh Augustine,
Liaison-ICT Officer-Kogi Covid-19 Incidence Management Team, who presented a
report update on the state’s Covid-19 App, said over 216, 398 people have so far
visited the Self Assessment App page. He added that out of the 216, 398 visits,
15, 590 people have taken self assessment of the App, while live messages was
1,755 people.
He added that out of
the 15,590 people that took self assessment on the app, only 48 of them were
found within the range of medium to high risk.
He noted that majority
of the 48 people were not from Kogi while few were indigenes of Kogi, adding
that the development had made them to improve on the App to easily identified
locations.
He further said that
119 people had so far made calls to the state Covid-19 seven hotlines,
stressing that Kogi was yet to have any confirmed incidence of Covid-19 at the
time of the meeting.
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