The Ekiti State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. (Mrs.) Yaya Mojisola Kolade has counselled Ekiti residents and religious leaders in the State to exercise more restraints at this time of COVID-19 pandemic; most especially, on the continuous closure of religious worship centres across the State.
Dr. Mrs. Mojisola Yaya Kolade gave this counsel while responding to questions from newsmen in her office recently in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State Capital.
Mojisola Yaya Kolade revealed that: “Ekiti is presently managing the pandemic well. We had the first patient on March 18th, 2020. Ekiti started the prevention early even before the Federal Government did”, she noted.
“At the initial stage, we were regularly going to the media to sensitize the public by giving out handbills, using loudspeakers, going round the market places and teaching people on what to do and how to prevent themselves from contacting the deadly disease.
“Ekiti State also set up its COVID-19 Team even before the Federal Government did. The State was a little bit ahead of the Federal Government as well as before the NCDC came to launch their own team in the state.
“Also, isolation centres were created and prepared in the state immediately the first patient was discovered in the state with space for a 10-bed facility. She commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for providing them with Ventilator, a 30KVA generator, fans and installation of adequate running water in order to effectively contain the dreaded virus in the state. She praised the Governor for setting up a Resources Mobilization Committee which was really helpful.
The Health Commissioner used the opportunity to unveil the Ekiti State Government’s plan to equally initiate a Community Surveillance Team throughout the state in order to crosscheck and ascertain those who might have been infected with the deadly virus.
Reacting to the continuous closure of Religious Worship Centres across the state, Yaya Kolade appealed to the leaders of the Christian and Muslim Communies in the state not to be in a hurry to resume for services in their religious places.
According to her, “we have met the religious bodies many times and we have discussed elaborately on the system and the methodology to use in re-opening the churches and mosques in the state.
“We don’t want to open religious places and later close them again as we see in some other states in the Country. We need more time to plan well and strategize so that we will have a positive result when we finally open. We are determined to continue to use the scientific methods to address the issues of the COVID 19 pandemic”.
