The Minister of State For Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, says the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) is working with development partners to address infrastructural gaps in COVID-19 vaccine supply and distribution.
Mamora gave the assurance at the weekly briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, on Tuesday in Abuja.
The minister said, “In terms of vaccines, the lead agency, NPHCDA, working with partners, is currently assessing the infrastructural gaps in terms of logistics for cold chain maintenance, storage, supply and distribution.”
He said that the aim was to ensure that the vaccine would reach those in need of it.
“We are also working with the Aviation Ministry to ensure strict enforcement of COVID-19 protocols at the local and international wings of airports across the country, taking cognisance of the high transmissibility of the new strain of the virus already confirmed in many countries.
“Particular attention in this regard is therefore being focused on passengers arriving from the UK and South Africa.
“We appeal to all states to increase testing to enable us to know exactly where we are.
“This will enable us to put in place measures to check transmission and provide treatment for patients,” he said.
Mamora urged those with COVID-19 symptoms to promptly report and get tested.
“The Federal Government has been making spirited efforts at ensuring availability of oxygen on a short term basis through collaboration with CACOVID, while pursuing the process for nationwide equitable and sustainable oxygen availability at federal tertiary hospitals as well as state-owned hospitals.
“We acknowledge with thanks the provision of 100 cylinders of medical oxygen per day by a donor-company for patients in isolation and treatment centres in the FCT.
” It is important to state that the ultimate plan in terms of medical oxygen supply is based on systematic oxygen assessment and gaps identification in the country, bordering on severe disequilibrium, uneven storage/demand ratio, distribution logistics challenges and equipment and plant dilapidation.
“Our oxygen availability intervention plan is targeted at immediate, medium and long-term plans with special attention to COVID-19 high burden areas such as FCT, Lagos and Kaduna,” he said.
The minister said that various approved treatment centres had scaled up activities while quality of care had continued to improve.
“A major factor contributing to the mortality of cases is late presentation at the approved treatment centres.
“We therefore appeal to caregivers not to hold on to suspected cases who fit the case identification protocol for longer than necessary.
“This will greatly improve treatment outcomes and drive our case fatality rate further down,” Mamora said. (NAN)