No Country can boast of enough ventilators- Nigeria's Minister of Health
As the nation continues to battle the Coronavirus scourge,
Nigeria's Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has said that no country in
the world can boast of having enough ventilators within their healthcare
system.
A ventilator is a machine designed to provide mechanical
ventilation by moving breathable air in and out of the lungs, to deliver
breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing
insufficiently. The machine is attached to a tube inserted in the patient’s
airway so it can deliver air into the lungs.
Nigeria has less than 500 ventilators in the whole
Federation, a matter that is of great concern to many Nigerians.
However while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on
Monday, Ehanire said this isn't a cause for alarm as only one of the
Coronavirus cases in Nigeria requires the use of a ventilator.
“The question of
ventilators; yes we are addressing it.
There is no country in this world that has enough ventilators. Of all the cases
we have had so far only one requires a ventilator. Some require just Oxygen.
Probably less than four per cent of the cases we are dealing with require
ventilators.
“Government is
also taking inventory of what each state requires. The number of ventilators
you have in the country does not decide your rate of survival.” he said
The Minister at the press briefing said efforts are being
made to establish testing labs for the infectious disease in Abakiliki, Kaduna,
Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Sokoto within the next three weeks.
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