TheCable

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, says Nigeria is expecting another set of COVID-19 materials from China.

Speaking during the presidential task force briefing on Wednesday, the minister said ventilators are expected to be included in the materials from China.

In March, Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba, Chinese e-commerce company, donated medical kits to Nigeria to fight the coronavirus pandemic, while the consulate-general of the Asian country also donated some protective kits to Lagos.

A 15-man medical team from China also brought some equipment which the federal government said had been fixed at isolation centres in the country.

At the briefing, Ehanire said efforts are being made to add to the equipment at the isolation centres.

“You all remember that the US president promised Nigeria some ventilators. We also got a letter the other day that the government of China is sending us another load of materials for attending to COVID-19 among which I believe there will be ventilators. It is a matter of fitting them to our tertiary hospitals and federal medical centres,” Ehanire said at the briefing.

“The ventilators go with specialised manpower. You must have an intensive care specialist. We are escalating our training and doing crash courses. The number of persons who have required ventilators so far is very small. The fatalities that we have in Nigeria are largely connected with pre-existing diseases.

“The conditions must be met for private hospitals to handle COVID-19. They must be inspected, purpose-fit and also accredited. If they meet those conditions, yes private hospitals can handle COVID-19.”