NSIA donates Covid-19 relief equipment to 21 tertiary medical institutions

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) on Thursday donated Covid-19 relief equipment to 21 tertiary medical institutions across the six geo-political zones of the country.

The virtual event, which was presided over by Mr Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Federal Government, also had the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, as well as the Health Minister, Dr Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire, in attendance.

Providing the rationale for the donation, NSIA Managing Director, Mr Uche Orji, said the spread of COVID-19 in the country, followed by an audit to gauge the readiness of the institutions to meet the health challenge “brought to the fore, two major needs, outside the need for personal protective equipment and ventilators which featured prominently on the snag list of all hospitals, the major needs were ICU monitors to gauge patients’ vital signs and oxygen concentrators to ease breathing in the early stages of the respiratory disease.”

He added, “It was brought to our attention that patients in locations without oxygen concentrators and ICU monitors had longer recovery periods and stood far less chance of survival. The Authority was also informed that, in the history of pandemics, the second wave is usually more lethal than the first in terms of fatalities. The information fueled the Authority’s response strategy.”

The information, he further noted, informed the Authority’s decision to provide relief equipment to 21 federal healthcare institutions across the six geopolitical zones to help in the fight against COVID-19.

He said, “We will be providing a modest number of 189 equipment with each centre to receive at the minimum: four (4) Regular Patient Monitors, two (2) ICU Monitors and three (3) Dual Oxygen Concentrators.

“Our hope is that the use of each equipment would mean that at least one more Nigerian life will be saved and one less family will not have to mourn the loss of a loved one due to covid-19 or any respiratory illness.”

While expressing the appreciation of the federal government to the leadership of NSIA for the provision of the equipment, Mr Mustapha said, “The contribution of oxygen concentrators and patient monitors, to the 21 most affected teaching hospitals, across the six geo-political zones of the country is indeed a welcome development and could not have come at a better time.”

He added “NSIA’s intervention in this regard comes at a critical time in the fight against the virus and consequently must be lauded. The current administration has and will continue to put in place measures, both economic and social, to ease the plight of the pandemic on Nigerians. But every citizen or guest in our country must commit to creating a covid-free environment. We cannot stop the spread of the virus if responsible behaviour is not maintained by all concerned.”

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