Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has announced that its Commission would assist in whatever it will to ensure that the people of the Niger Delta region are protected from this dreaded Coronavirus disease, COVID-19.
Speaking, Acting Managing Director of the Commission, professor kamebradikumo Pondei, disclosed this recently, in an interview at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt.
According to him, as an interventionist agency, the Commission would liaise with other stakeholders in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; adding that the treatment of the virus was not determined by just drugs only but included the ability to make sure that those tested positive were able to breathe properly and this should be done by the use of ventilators.
Furthermore, he noted that the Commission was targeting on the treatment seeing that most of every other actions taken so far had been on prevention; regular hand washing, social distancing and the use sanitizers.
He also assured that the commission would discover the isolation centres in the Niger Delta states to enable them support in strengthening and building their capacity for service delivery.
“We have started looking at different isolation points in the nine states of the Niger Delta region. We are interacting with the states to find out what is on ground and we are taking stock of the ventilators and oxygen in health facilities across the region.”
“This morning we found that there are about 500 ventilators in the entire country. We are exploring avenues to see if we could intervene in providing ventilators. Similarly, oxygen is difficult to procure in the country.
‘The federal government through the ministry of health has a policy on oxygen which has not been disseminated very well. There are very few oxygen production plants in the country and some of the existing ones have actually broken down. But the provision of oxygen is key to the treatment.”
“We are also looking at the drugs that have been used so far in other climes for treatment, there are some anti-viral drugs that we are trying to make available in a proactive manner. The NDDC is going a step above what others are doing.
“As for testing, we are leaving that with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, which is coordinating the testing. But we will also like to let people know that most of the kits that are being used are not efficient and cannot detect COVID-19. Because everybody has one way or another been exposed to Coronavirus and those kits just test for antibodies that already exist in most of us.”
“It is not enough to build a place and say it is an isolation centre. It has to be properly equipped and properly stocked. They should have personal protective gears for health workers and must have dedicated conveniences for each of the patients. Everything you use for one patient cannot be used for another patient”, pondei affirmed.
Moreso, while pleading that hand washing techniques be taught on radio and television, he also emphasized on the importance of people adhering strictly to simple health tips like social distancing, not smoking in a crowd, good coughing etiquette and regular hand washing with soap and water in order to stay safe from this ravaging disease.
Hinting on the free medical programme of the NDDC, the Acting MD said that the Commission’s 2019 budget made provisions for its resuscitation.
“ Right now, the directorate of Health, Eduction and Social Services, EHSS, is already working on a template for it. We are also looking at people that will partner with us. What we are planning is to roll out a monthly programme that will run across the 9 states of the region. Our plan is to have three in every state under the NDDC mandate in a month at the same time. We believe that it will reduce the disease burden, especially in the hard to reach areas of the region”, he stated.
