COVID-19: Many Patients Take To Their Heels When Tested Positive – Akin Abayomi

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, have given reasons why the state still has unoccupied beds at the various isolation centres despite recording more COVID-19 cases than its bed-capacity.

He disclosed that Lagos state still has about 307 unoccupied beds out of the 569 total bed spaces available in the state because most patients are yet to be admitted, while most are on the run after testing positive for coronavirus.

Abayomi, who spoke at the state secretariat when responding to the question on the discrepancy between the occupancy of the isolation centres and the number of active cases in the state on Friday, explained that many residents who tested positive were running away from being taken to isolation centres for treatment.

“There is also a situation that we experience, when we test people, sometimes they find it difficult to find them. The ambulances will go into community, people will flee their homes, and they make it difficult for us to find them,” the commissioner said.

Speaking on the stress being faced by health workers, Abayomi said some positive patients sometimes shut their doors or they leave their environment to avoid being admitted, adding that the patients do not answer their phones as well.

The commissioner noted that this is because people are afraid to come to the isolation centres and the ministry has no time to start hunting people round the community.

“If you have tested positive, we expect you to cooperate with us and make yourself available so that you can be admitted and accessed.

“Our isolation facilities are really comfortable, it is not like the Ebola days, we have made a lot of improvements.

“Members of the executive and senior people in government have been admitted into those facilities. If I test positive, I will go to one of those facilities,” Abayomi said.

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The health commissioner however assured Lagos residents that they have nothing to be afraid of as the staff are very professional.

He said the state has 569 bed-capacity and 45 per cent overall occupancy, while 307 bed spaces are available. As of Friday, Lagos has 1,037 active cases of coronavirus.

“We have just opened Gbagada Hospital and we are yet to admit most of the patients we want to admit into Gbagada. As soon as we fill Gbadaga up, our occupancy will increase to over 70 or 80 per cent,” Abayomi said.

Meanwhile, a breakdown of the isolation centres and bed-capacity in Lagos State as of Friday is as below:

Gbagada General Hospital – 118
Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) – 60
Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba -115
Onikan Stadium Centre – 100
Landmark Centre – 70
Lekki Centre – 45
Agidingbi Centre – 34
First Cardiology Hospital – 5 (Critical case).