The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, on Wednesday, inspected a five-story building that could serve as an isolation and treatment facility for COVID-19 patients, should the need arise in the FCT.
According to the minister’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Anthony Ogunleye, the building, which is located at the Idu area of the territory, is a new training facility that could be modified to suit the purposes of a treatment and isolation centre as required by the health authorities.
“The most critical thing is that this place has a lot of space. We are talking of five floors. I don’t think the whole of Abuja will have a hospital facility that can accommodate up to five floors. More importantly, there is power here constantly, and there is an adequate water supply,” he stated.
The minister further disclosed that relevant health authorities will further inspect the facility to determine its suitability.
Malam Bello continued: “I leave it now for the officials of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and of course our public health officials. Jointly, they will decide what needs to be done here and we have a lot of commitment from the private sector organisations who are willing to support the national efforts to fight this disease.
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“Once they all agree, I’m sure that within a very short period of time, this place can be made functional,” He added.
Also speaking, the Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr Muhammed Kawu, said the building was very adequate and could be converted into a 300-bed facility.
In her comment, the Director of Public Health, Dr Josephine Okechukwu, said the structure was ideal and would serve the purpose as a treatment centre.
According to her: “This is a perfect place that we have been looking for and it is quite good. It is a new structure with so many available rooms that we can fix up for now as a holding centre or a treatment centre if need be.”
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