Lockdown: Lagos assembly commends Sanwo-Olu, urges residents to stay at home

Lagos State House of Assembly has commended the Lagos State Governor Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the lockdown, saying if strictly adhered to, will aid quick detection and immediate medical attention.

The commendation was given during a visit by joint committee of the House on Health and Information to four Coronavirus treatment and Isolation centres, in the state.

The mission was for sight-seeing of the facilities and to ascertain adequacy of the health care services.

The members pleaded with Lagosians to adhere to directives of stay at home by federal government in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic adding that all over the globe, the economy is nose-diving and people need now more than ever to be their brother’s keeper by extending a helping hand to the vulnerable.

In their observation during the tour around the facilities, the committee noticed a proactive response to the pandemic as basic equipment were afforded.

According to the team led by Mr. Hakeem Sokunle, the chairman House Committee on Health Services and accompanied by Hon. Tunde Braimoh the Chairman House Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, government is living no stone unturned to mitigate further spread of the virus but really needs the cooperation of the people.

Sokunle harps on the aptness of the government’s insistence on sit at home order as the best way to curb the spread of the virus, weighing the grave consequences of getting infected on an individual.

“Let us commend the government giving out that executive order, I must say this, having it slow does not mean that we will achieve 100 percent success and having it fast has nothing to do with success.

“The good thing about the place is if there is a lockdown, it will confine everybody in his or her room or places of abode and that would enable us if there is any outbreak to come down to your residence and pick you up for treatment.

“So, the lockdown will only assist us to be able to identify all the people affected by the Coronavirus, this as the best way to curb the further spread of virus.

“The best way to curb the spread is absolute lockdown, I understand it is not easy but sometimes we should be able to consider the effect of COVID-19, because if you witness the effect of the virus on human being it is very, very bad”, he said.

“That there were so much complaints about the adequacy or even availability of the palliatives, in some areas it varies, in some places it was not adequate, in some others they have yet gotten at all and the Governor actually assured the committee of the whole house of Assembly that nobody expected these problems and we should give kudos to government for responding.

“Most of the places where responses are faster and more adequate is because they have the data already that they have been using to do social support or social intervention to their people all along.

“We don’t have any verifiable database here and so you have to be sure that not just some people are getting many while some of them none.”

Earlier, Dr. Nifemi Oloniyo the Medical officer at the IDH, who represented the Managing Director Dr. Abimbola Bowale while conducting the committee round the facility noted that it has 103-bed spaces for patients along with two Isolation Centres around it.

Dr James Okediran who was also on ground at the IDH calls for more equipment adding that the numbers of COVID-19 patients are increasing on a daily basis.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, however, urged Lagosians not to be secretive, when having related symptoms as early detection and proper treatment will bring needed respite.

“We are in the community spread phase now yes, but we are finding more cases and we are taking them out of the community and I think if we can continue to do that over the next few weeks or so, we will be making major inroads into winning this COVID-19 war.

The committee visited the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, IDH, Yaba, Isolation Centre at Onikan Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Eti Osa Isolation Centre at Landmark Victoria Island and the Cardiac and Renal Centre General Hospital Gbagada, which has also been drafted for prompt medical care as the virus bites harder in the State, given the circulated statistics by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC.