The National President of the Nigerian Medical Doctors, Prof Innocent Ujah, who said he was aware of a shortage of oxygen in hospitals, urged the government to provide the gas in large quantity.
Ujah, in an interview, stated, “I am aware of it (shortage of oxygen). Recall that Lagos has established some centers for oxygen. Unfortunately, this disease is coming in various shapes and sizes and the reason is that there were things that we did not know before now because of COVID-19. Government has to respond appropriately by setting up oxygen production centers.
“We need to have oxygen in huge volume. This is in contrast to what we thought were doing before. We need oxygen that will appropriately take care of all the cases that will come to the isolation centers and hospitals.
Many COVID-19 patients will need oxygen to survive – Lagos NMA
In Lagos State, the Chairman of the NMA, Dr. Adetunji Adenekan, on Thursday called for the availability of oxygen in the state hospitals, saying a lot of COVID-19 patients would need it to survive.
In an interview with one of our correspondents, Adenekan said although the state government was working on improving the gas supply in the isolation centers and hospitals in the state, there was the need to make it available when patients needed it.
He said, “We once had the challenges of a shortage of oxygen at our isolation centers and hospitals but it is better now because the government has moved to take actions. The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, on Monday, said the state government had concluded plans to inaugurate 10 oxygen centers. Some of those centers are in operation now.
“What we think that we need now is the prompt response when the call for oxygen is made. For us, we think oxygen is a basic necessity for hospitals. No clinic should be satisfied if it has no oxygen. The issue is that when they run out of what they have, how quickly can they get a replacement? How fast is the supply?
“At this current level, knowing that a lot of COVID-19 patients will need oxygen to survive, there is the need to make sure it is readily available. Part of what we wrote to the state government was that there should be the availability of basic amenities in our hospitals, and one of them is oxygen.