Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday disclosed that his government plans to construct a purpose built International Infectious Disease Research Centre at the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba as part of Lagos COVID19 response and other infectious disease preparedness in post COVID19 era.

Sanwo-Olu disclosed this at the official launch of the 150-bed Mainland Infectious Disease Isolation Centre donated by Private Sector Coalition Against COVID19 (CACOVID) to Lagos State for COVID19 response.

The governor said the State government would also erect a purpose built Doctors’ Quarters and permanent isolation wards to ramp up capacity for any infectious disease outbreak in Lagos as part of the global master plan for the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba.

He said: “Our Infectious Disease hospital is seeing a lot of brand new things coming up and we have committed that this hospital post COVID19 would see a purpose built international infectious disease research center; the designs are out already.

“We will also be building a purpose built isolation wards, we will ramp up our infrastructure and capacity and not wait for a pandemic to come on us again. We will be building doctors’ quarters in this facility as part of our global plan for the Yaba Infectious Disease Hospital”, he said.

While commending CACOVID for donating the state-of-art 150 bed Isolation centre to Lagos for COVID19 response, Sanwo-Olu noted that the facility will certainly add to the State capacity and enable it do a lot more in the war against COVID19.

“This is the sixth or the seventh dedicated isolation centres that we have. Several other facilities we are using for quarantine and holding bay but this is the sixth or seventh structured isolation centre. I want to on behalf of the people and government of Lagos State thank the coalition for this facility”, the Governor said.

Sanwo-Olu however noted that beyond putting up isolation facility for COVID19 case management, it is important for citizens to understand that the need to take responsibility against the pandemic.

“It is not a function of how many isolation bed that is built but a case of ourselves taking responsibility, understanding that this virus knows no race, colour or age. Indeed we need to take responsibility because of our loved ones. Covid19 is real and we owe it a duty to tell our people to be very cautious and take precautionary measures and ensure that it is only when we do all of this things that this pandemic can be defeated.

“When we say that if you feel unwell and you’ve been tested that you isolate yourself even if you don’t have severe symptoms, it is really so that you can protect your loved ones and the vulnerable in your family and vulnerable in the society so that we can slow down the morbidity and fatality that might come out from a raging pandemic such as this. That is why we cannot lose this opportunity to reiterate the importance of wearing your face mask at all times, practicing hand hygiene and physical distancing”, the Governor stated.

Earlier in his remarks, Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi explained that the 150-bed isolation facility has a fully contained PCR laboratory, a routine laboratory, a bouquet of administrative and ancillary facilities, a water treatment plant, a waste management system and three power generators for case management.

“Today we are opening the 6th of our isolation centres in Lagos specifically committed to COVID19. This isolation centre is donated by a consortium known as CACOVID and we have been working together now for almost four months to design, to build and to complete this fabulous structure which is going to add 150 more isolation beds to our central isolation capacity”.

“This is an extension of facilities at main infectious disease hospital at Yaba where we have about 120 isolation beds and well established intensive care unit (ICU) for patients with severe to critical case. The donated facility by CACOVID will serve as an additional 150 beds for us to manage the more moderate to severe cases of COVID19 and if any of them needs intensive care, they would be moved across to our ICU”, Abayomi said.

The Commissioner noted that the new policy shift in Lagos is that patients who test positive and require close monitoring will be managed at the State central isolation facilities.

In his remarks the Managing Director Access Bank PLC, Herbert Wigwe commended the State government and the Governor for the timely and good response against the COVID19 pandemic. He noted that a lot has been done by Lagos State in its response against the disease that deserves commendation.

“We are proud to have worked very closely with a very strong team to set up what is a model state-of-the-art isolation centre here in Lagos. I must commend the State team with the level of transparency, painstaking attention to detail which we have to go through to make sure that the facility we have here is what can be compared to any other in other parts of the world.

“I must commend you for the leadership you’ve shown and commend you for manner with which you have tackled the pandemic. When we compare what is happening in Lagos to other part of Africa and other part of the world with similar demography, we must say that a lot of work has been done out here and we are extremely proud of the great job that is coming out of here particularly in Lagos.”, he said.