The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has approved the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) as a testing centre for Coronavirus disease.
The approval was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the hospital’s image-maker, Joshua Uwaila on Tuesday in Benin City.
Uwaila noted that the approval will boost the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the disease in Edo State.
He said the achievement was made possible by the collaboration between the Hospital and the Centre for Excellence in Reproductive Health Innovation ( CERHI) of the University of Benin.
READ ALSO: Nigeria not flattening COVID-19 curve as testing drops by 36% – NCDC
According to him, the collaboration which was initiated by the Chief Medical Director of UBTH, Prof Darlington Obaseki, provides access to the use of the Centre’s Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine for COVID-19 testing.
“With this new development, testing for COVID-19 for UBTH patients has become more efficient as travelling cost and time in handling test specimens have now been eliminated. This achievement adds traction to the fight against COVID-19 in Edo State,” he said.
The state governor, Godwin Obaseki had last Thursday, during a visit to the UBTH isolation centre, expressed satisfaction with the collaborative effort by the management of the hospital with the state government, in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Obaseki, who was taken on a guided tour of UBTH testing centre among other facilities, by the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Darlington Obaseki, expressed confidence that the Hospital will continue to provide quality healthcare to all its patients and clients.
