Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health has announced that it hasn’t permitted any private hospital to treat COVID-19 patients.

The Health Minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, on Friday made this announcement at a COVID-19 Presidential Task Force briefing in Abuja, when he emphasized that even though some private hospitals have shown interest to treat the coronavirus, the Ministry has permitted them to because none have met the criteria yet.

“No accredited private hospital has been given approval in Abuja. Lagos is looking at some accredited hospitals. There’s one large hospital in Lagos that has called me and said they want to become a coronavirus treatment centre. The structure of the hospital is that they are ready to remove all present patients they have and do nothing but Coronavirus treatment. That would be good because they don’t stand the chance of cross-infection.

“But, at the moment, there is no hospital that has met the criteria. Treating of private patients is not allowed. It is risky. Coronavirus is one of the most easily transmitted diseases you can think of. So, it is not allowed to treat Coronavirus privately,”.

Further speaking, the Minister noted that there are important guidelines to be met by any hospital to be able treat COVID-19 cases successfully.

“If you are a private person and you want to run a treatment centre, you have to show that you have the staff. The doctor must be an infectious disease specialist. You need nurses and even cleaners that are trained because the handling of this hospital is different from ordinary hospitals. They must be trained in infection control professional protocols. The hospital must be properly ventilated. You have to have inspection by a team of accreditors that will give you go ahead.” More so, He mentioned that early diagnosis is necessary in the treatment of this infection.