The Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19 and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Monday that the country would face a serious shortage of reagents for testing suspected patients as cases of Coronavirus exceeded 12,000.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Task Force, Mr Boss Mustapha, said with the challenges on ground, stakeholders should start looking inward to address the shortfall of the reagents.
“The shortage of reagents and supply chain issues are global issues because the entire world is seeking to purchase the same commodities. To the PTF, the motivation for action is to look inward, plan ahead and develop our domestic capacities.
“This is because COVID-19 is neither the first nor will it be the last pandemic. What is certain is that we must not allow the next pandemic to catch us unprepared. The strategic thrust of the National Response is to test, test and test,” he said.
The PTF chairman also expressed concern over the manpower shortages and lack of skills on the part of some frontline health workers.
“The visit to the NRL has shown that while we ramp up capacity for testing, we must also enhance the skills and size of manpower to run the laboratories. Moving from two to a network of thirty technology driven laboratories and coordinating them is certainly not a small feat.
“It is, therefore, significant to mention that a major outcome of the 100 days assessment is the recognition of the need for States to scale up responsibility for their public health response. In the medium to long term, we hope to build a network of state public health labs that will bring about sustainability in public health response in Nigeria,” he said.
The PTF chairman also reviewed the strides achieved by the team in the last 100 days since the index case was reported in Nigeria, saying over 80,000 tests have been carried out while the number of laboratories in the COVID-19 network has increased from two to 30 – with a laboratory in every geopolitical zone.
“The COVID-19 has taken the entire world by the storm because it has disrupted all known systems, including governance, economy, financial system, travels, healthcare. Even the best of health care systems and arrangements succumbed to the force of the virus.
“Within our national setting, the weaknesses inherent in our national health care systems were made glaring and needed urgent attention.
“Government determined immediately, to take on the lessons and to ensure that the healthcare system experienced a tremendous leap in human and infrastructure development as well as policy focus, stability and direction.
“Within the 100 days under review, the following modest accomplishments were recorded: Over 13,000 health workers have been trained, increasing the human resource available for case management.
“More personal protective equipment and ventilators have been procured and prepositioned across the country. The number of beds available for isolation and case management has increased from 3000 beds to 5000 beds nationwide,” he said.
