Akin Abayomi, Commissioner for health has said that Lagos State will confine patients with mild cases to home or community-based care.
Analysts have warned the bed spaces could soon run out with the increasing numbers of new infections cases in the state.
Lagos state as an epicenter of COVID-19 in Nigeria has so far reported 3224 positive cases , with 2383 active cases and 46 dead.
Lagos State as of May 21 spent an estimated 640 million naira ($4.2 million) on the pandemic.
The commissioner on Saturday morning on @radionigeriahq live interactive network programme, “Radio Link” discussing “Epidemic preparedness in Nigeria post-COVID19: Prospects and Strategies” said the isolation centres would be dedicated to those who have severe cases of #COVID19, where the state has more sophisticated medical personnel and equipment to look after complications.
“We will confine those with mild cases to home or community-based care.
“We are at the active community transmission stage in Lagos, #COVID19 cases are increasing daily and so we need to change our strategy,” he said.
He added: “We are classifying our patients to be able to manage them at our isolation centres, in the community and at the Primary Heath care levels.
On Medical Tourism We can develop Centres of excellence across the country for medical tourism in Nigeria. There is no reason why govt cannot create that kind of environment for us to progress along this line.
“We know that Lagos State is vulnerable to the importation of #COVID19 and we know we will have multiple biosecurity threats.
“We are aware of all the international biosecurity instruments. Lagos is reviewing its Laws and policies in accordance with the global standards,” he said.
Abayomi also said as a government Nigeria needs to strengthen its research institutions, stating that the country depends a lot on external funding for a lot of researches conducted.
“We should be using indigenous funding sources to empower our institutions so that they can help us develop indigenous strategies, especially during an environment like this when we are hit by a biosecurity threat.
He added that these institutions are in the best position to help us find indigenous solutions.
“More funding needs to go into our tertiary medical, science and research institutions,” Abayomi said.
Speaking on strategies, the commissioner said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommendations and it is practised around the world, that once an outbreak exceeds the carrying capacity of the health infrastructure, a new strategy will have to be put in place to manage people at the community level.
