The World Health Organization ( WHO) has donated 26 ventilators and other equipment to Nigeria to boost the country’s fight against COVID19.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire received the donated items on behalf of the Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja.
Nigeria also took delivery of 3,560 fingertip oxygen pulse oximeters as authorities step up efforts to curb the spread of the disease in the period of a third wave.
Dr Ehanire expects the ventilators to come in handy in the race to halt the spread of the pandemic.
“We thank you and appreciate these additional assets as we have to deal with the fears of the third wave of COVID-19,” Ehanire told the WHO’s Country Representative Dr Walter Kazadi, who presented the items to him.
“Ventilators are becoming very useful, especially for early response in the period of COVID-19, and even after COVID-19, they will remain assets all over the country,” he said.
Dr Ehanire promised that the Federal Government would keep an inventory of the ventilators and assured Nigerians that the items donated will be properly utilised.
WHO’s Country Representative Dr Walter Kazadi, believes Nigeria has performed relatively well in containing the first and second waves of the pandemic.
He also found Nigeria’s national case fatality/rate which he put at 1.3 percent, a level that was half the regional average, encouraging.
With the country now battling the third wave of the pandemic, Dr Kazadi expects it to achieve success in flattening the curve. The WHO is also ready to play its part.
“It is against this backdrop we wish to demonstrate our continued support of the ministry’s efforts in further strengthening the country’s capacity in case management,” he said.
