The private sector has played a leading role in the fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. BOLAJI OGUNDELE and GBENGA OMOKHUNU write about the latest of such support unveiled on Tuesday by ThisDay Media and Technology Group, Sahara Energy Group and others in Abuja
THE latest on the list of private initiatives to fight the Coronavirus was unveiled on Tuesday in Abuja. It is called the ThisDay Dome COVID-19 Testing, Tracing and Treatment Centre. The 300-bed facility with a 54gene laboratory is a private sector-driven initiative donated by a consortium of like-minded partners, powered by the Sahara Energy Group and the ThisDay Media and Technology Group. Other partners on the project are the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CA-COVID), the African Finance Corporation (AFC), China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
At the inauguration of the facility, located in the heart of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha expressed appreciation to the facilitators and called on other private sector players to join the fight.
Sahara Group, which conceptualised the project, through its Corporate Citizenship Vehicle, the Sahara Foundation, said it had a long-term projection for the equipment it introduced to the project. According to its Executive Director, Temitope Shonubi, the COVID-19 challenge provided a window for the private sector to collaborate with the public sector to properly situate the healthcare sector.
Shonubi said: “All of the equipment Sahara Group has provided to the isolation centre, through the Sahara Foundation, will be donated to the Federal Ministry of Health when the pandemic is over. We believe this will shore up the availability of these equipment in some of our tertiary medical institutions. This, for us, is in line with the sustainability principle that guides all our interventions in our locations across the globe. Even beyond here, we have some extra equipment which will be sent to other centres that are being developed to ensure the virus is effectively contained in Nigeria.
“It is great to see how collaboration between the private and public sector is advancing our response to the pandemic robustly. All the stakeholders have worked collectively to make the process of bringing in medical equipment and establishing more venues seamless. Sahara Group is delighted and honoured to be part of such positive partnerships that can only enhance the well-being of all Nigerians”, he said.
Thisday Media and Technology Group Chairman Nduka Obaigbena said the private sector should join the government in solving all challenges facing the society.
“As citizens, we believe we should join hands with our government to solve this existential crisis. ThisDay Dome has been here for many years, so we thought we should make it available to fight this pandemic and we partnered with Sahara Group to put together a coalition, which was led by CA-COVID, NNPC, CCECC, CBN, and others. We put together a collective to join hands with the federal government to deal with the crisis at hand.
“This facility has four branches, over there is a facility where you can test, treat and fix. So we have a 54-gene testing laboratory, with state-of-the-art molecular laboratory equipment, which is ready to go. It can handle 200 tests per day, scalable and it does about 50 tests at the same time. Because of paperwork and other documentation, it produces a result within 24 hours.
“We have the tracing App, which has been developed by our technology team, as you know ThisDay is not just a newspaper outfit only, it is now a technology company, so we have developers in Europe and Nigeria who have out this tracing App together. When you are tested, we can trace all your contacts with App and if you have requirements for isolation and treatment, there is Sahara ward and intensive care unit for you there. We have ICU beds, ventilators, medical waste incinerators, it has everything you need. So in this one facility, you can solve all the problems of COVID-19 and we thought that we should work with the federal government by making it available at no charge,” he said.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said a plan was underway to provide grants for researchers with interest in developing a vaccine and cure for the disease.
Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire said the country was prepared for the worst on the issue of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We are able to learn a lot of things from the Chinese Doctors. We are happy that this treatment and isolation centre is in place now. We are pleased that this is a good example of what the private sector can do in supporting event of this nature of the COVID-19 outbreak that is affecting everybody both the rich and poor.
“This is a situation that calls for all hands to be on deck. We are not yet desperate but we are happy to have it here. Our policy has always been to strive for the best and prepare for the worst. We are striving to have the best outcomes. This facility here is serving that purpose of preparing for the worst. We are grateful that it is an addition to what we have on ground.
“Community transmission that necessitates urgent response is already with us. It this realisation, on the side of Nigeria’s private sector, who took it upon themselves to rise to the occasion that brings me at this juncture to mention and appreciate the contributions of the Coalition Against COVID-19 (known now as CA-COVID) and in connection with the event of today, the Sahara Energy Group and THISDAY Media & Technology Group for the donation of this THISDAY Dome Temporary Treatment & Isolation Centre. The Centre has not just added to the number of available bed spaces but saved the Nigerian health sector the anxiety of looming shortages.
“It comes with the following: Sahara Foundation Wards and ICU Centre complete with Ventilators, X-Ray and Dialysis; THISDAY 54gene Testing Mobile Lab complete with reagents – with scalable 200 – 1000 tests per day; THISDAY 98 – Room Hotel & Conference Centre next door for medical staff for 6 months; CBN Medical Grant in direct support to FMoH and FCDA for day to day management of the Isolation Centre and industrial-grade medical incinerator,” Ehanire said.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Muhammad Bello said with the facility, the FCT has almost reached the target of 1, 000-bed spaces.
Bello said: “There is no doubt, in the long run, it will add to the bed spaces available within the territory for us to be using as treatment and isolation centre. With this facility, the FCT has almost reached the target of 1000 bed spaces. Within the FCT we have in existence, three treatment isolation centres, one of which was just handed over to us at Idu, boasting a capacity for 500 beds.”
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