COVID-19: Edo to set up 54 screening centres

Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government of Edo has hinted on plans to create no less than 54 COVID-19 screening centres in the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Patrick Okundia, who made this known to newsmen, said three centres would be set up in each of the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

He said the move was part of the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of the dreaded disease.

According to Okundia, health workers and other public health professionals in the state have been trained to manage the centres, with the training moving to different LGAs in the state.

He added that the centres, along with the four major testing facilities, including the Stella Obasanjo Hospital; Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), University of Benin Teaching Hospital and General Hospital, Auchi, would serve as examination points to determine whether residents would need to go for further COVID-19 tests.

“The Edo State Government has been very scientific and professional in handling the disease and we are recording significant successes. We broke our approach into two, namely prevention and treatment.

“This with the knowledge that prevention is key to handling the infectious disease, we laid our emphasis on the need to prevent the spread through mass sensitisation and awareness creation.

“We also have screening centres in each of these four facilities where patients can be examined and decisions made whether they will need to go for test or not.

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“These centres are manned by experts. We have commenced the process of creating more screening centres with three in each LGA and trainings are currently ongoing in each LGA for the health professionals who will work in these centres,” the commissioner said.

He called the people of the state not to be afraid, assuring them that painstaking measures had been put in place to curtail the spread of the virus and and to take care cases in the state.

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