As part of the strategy to conduct fresh 10,000 COVID-19 tests on residents within two to three months, Oyo State Government has concluded plans to add Coronavirus test to the routine diagnosis for patients at hospitals.
Having tested over 2,000 people for the virus already which were sponsored by a Non-Governmental Organisation, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Seyi Makinde, Taiwo Adisa, who made the disclosure in a chat with newsmen on Monday, also said the new 10,000 test target is aimed at reaching people in the nooks and crannies of the state.
According to the CPS, to meet the target and curb the spread of the virus, the state government will partner health institutions and facilities across the state to add COVID-19 test to the basic ones undertaken for patients in determining their actual state of health and ensuring that those to be treated for other ailments do not have Coronavirus.
To achieve this, as he disclosed, test kits will be distributed to hospitals across the state to carry out COVID-19 tests on many patients to determine their status adding that both public and private hospitals would be accommodated in the new plan.
Adisa said the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan is a top partner in the new idea, as its management has been in the forefront of taking steps to protect health workers in the hospital and other hospitals in the state.
“Once COVID-19 test is conducted on patients, health workers will be confident about the status of their patients as they administer treatment,” he said.
He also stated that the strategy will take testing to many unwilling residents who ordinarily would not come to designated test centres opened by the government in various zones of the state.
Assuring that a good percentage of test kits were already in the kitty as testing will commence soon, governor Makinde’s spokesman also disclosed that isolation centres in Ogbomoso and Aawe were ready for use, stressing that patients would be admitted there as appropriate.
He added that facilities were also being expanded in Ibadan, the state capital to accommodate more patients should the need arise.
