N60m COVID-19 Holding Bay at LASUTH Begins Operations

By Dipo Olowookere

A 20-bed holding bay at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has been commissioned and would be used isolate suspected COVID-19 patients/cases to avoid further exposure of other patients before their test results come out.

The commissioning of the project was done by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday.

Before the new health facility was built, LASUTH had to make do with a Quarantine/Holding Bay which was opened in August 2020 for suspected COVID-19 patients, where over 200 suspected cases have been seen and over 30 patients have been admitted for treatments and some transferred to other various isolation centres across the State for intensive care and observation as the case may be.

It is believed that this new holding bay, which cost over N60 million to complete, will assist in curtailing the spread of the virus in Lagos, which continues to be the epic centre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

At the commissioning yesterday, wife of the Lagos Governor, Mrs Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, said concerted efforts are being made to flatten the curve of the pandemic.

“While our efforts at managing the pandemic have been largely successful considering the number of cases that have been successfully treated and the reduction in the number of new cases, it is important to emphasise that now is not the time for us to rest on our oars, but rather a time to remain conscious of the pandemic and to continue to intensify efforts at flattening the curve,” the medical doctor said.

Also speaking at the event, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, stressed that COVID-19 has not gone but the state has been able to reduce the panic it caused and subsequently able to flatten the curve.

“I held a meeting with the CMD and members of the board of directors of LASUTH to state the role of a tertiary academic institution in combating COVID-19.

“My advice was that they shouldn’t be involved in the day-to-day treatment of COVID-19 but concentrate on complicated cases. Cases that cannot be managed in any of the standard isolation centres,” he said.

In his remarks, the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, disclosed that the holding bay was donated by Mr Idowu Osuolale Obasa.

It was learnt that the holding bay was built due to concern that all the isolation areas in the country were open wards clearly dedicated to the care of COVID-19 positive cases with suspected cases not admitted thereby exposing the public to infection.

The facility has high-tech medical equipment and personnel that will provide specialised high care services to confirmed patients and allow for LASUTH to manage and treat not just COVID-19 cases and its complications but other forms of contagious diseases in the long run.