Group petitions Lagos Assembly on high cost of Covid-19 test

A network of non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations, Coalition Against High Cost of Covid-19 Test in Lagos (COHCTL), has petitioned the Lagos State House of Assembly, on what it termed the high cost of Covid-19 test in Lagos State which it claims has birthed the low percentage of the population tested so far and has therefore put the government in a blind spot in terms of adequate planning and containment of the coronavirus given the inaccurate figures.

The COHCTL network, specifically focused on the survival and wellbeing of citizens in the Covid-19 and post Covid era, is calling for a timely and swift intervention by the Lagos State House of Assembly on the reduction in the cost of the Covid-19 test in Lagos State as this will expand the accessibility and increase the procurement rate by citizens in the state.

According to the group’s Co-Convener, Dotun Atilade, a collaborative independent survey conducted to appraise the response of government, citizens and the health sector one year after, revealed that the high cost of procuring the Covid-19 test in private laboratories, inadequate and inaccessible public free testing centres with their inherent inefficiency is a major militating factor against scientific and well-informed response to the global pandemic in the state.

According to him, “Government’s response to Covid-19 has been largely cosmetic. A scientific and data-driven response is lacking. Without accurate and basic data, government cannot plan nor give an informed response to the real impact of the deadly virus on citizens. With less than two per cent of the population tested in one year, which reveals at least one in five samples tests positive, where is the comprehensive plan to combat the disease? The base figures are not accurate therefore the interventions or solutions will also not be inaccurate,” Atilade stated.

Beyond Lagos State, the group also expressed concern that the national response towards combating the scourge of Covid-19 in Nigeria has been grossly inadequate, especially evidenced by the number of doses of vaccines procured, matched with the national population which is influenced by the inability to see the true picture of the magnitude of the effects of the deadly virus due to poor testing.

The group’s petition part of a public health advocacy measure aimed at drawing attention and seeking the intervention of the Lagos State House of Assembly, with a view to ensure the reduction of the high cost of procuring the Covid-19 test in Lagos through the powers of the representatives of the people by the Lagos State Government.

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