The Cross River State government, through its ministry of health, has donated millions of naira worth of equipment to the state’s isolation centre for coronavirus.
The centre, built by the state government, is located at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar.
Hospital beds, screening apparatus, air conditioners, examination beds, plastic tables, and chairs, bedside lockers, non-contact infrared thermometers, digital blood pressure equipment, stethoscope, digital thermometers, safety boots, washing machines, personal protective equipment, and mackintosh, were among the donated items.
The Commissioner for Health in Cross River state, Betta Edu, who handed over the items to the isolation centre on behalf of the state governor, Ben Ayade, said there was no suspected or confirmed case of coronavirus in the state.
According to Edu, “This isolation centre is not being set up because we wish to have such occurrences but because we want to be ready for any disease outbreak that requires isolation or quarantine.”
“This is of standard and far bigger than the temporal one we have at General Hospital Ogoja,” she said.
She urged that the equipment be used judiciously to save lives and said the state government was ready to provide the centre with more equipment whenever the need arises.
The commissioner, on behalf of Governor Ayade, thanked the UCTH for the “wonderful job” the hospital has been doing in the health sector.
The Chief Medical Director of UCTH, Ikpeme Ikpeme, received the equipment on behalf of the hospital. He was represented by the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Ogbu Ngim.
Ngim, a professor, thanked Governor Ayade “for having the interest of Cross Riverians at heart and the health commissioner Dr Betta Edu for her sleepless nights and tremendous efforts to seeing that the State remains free of this coronavirus”.
Ngim thanked the commissioner for her regular visit to the isolation center and for always keeping in touch with UCTH “to make sure everything is in place”.
“Let me formally inform us today that there is no single case of coronavirus in Cross River State, the cases of the two foreigners after thorough investigation and examination are not suggestive of the virus.
“The state governor and the health commissioner have been up and doing and everything needed in addressing this pandemic has always been made available,” Ngim said.
The Director-General of the state’s primary healthcare and chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association were among the dignitaries present at the event.
Governor Ayade, while meeting with the board of the UCTH and other stakeholders in the health sector about a month ago, had promised to support the hospital as it continues to collaborate with the state government to deliver quality healthcare to residents of the state.
