Ugo Aliogo
As a way to support the federal government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company has launched the ‘COVID mobile’ a sample-taking vehicle that could help ramp up testing.
A statement signed by the company yesterday said its mission was to protect Nigeria’s healthcare workers who are taking samples from potentially infected patients on the field.
The statement also added that experts agree that the group most at risk from contracting COVID-19 from samples is medical lab scientists.
According to the statement, while speaking at the launch ceremony recently in Lagos State, the state Chairman of the Association of Medical Lab Scientists, Mr. Olumide Fatogbe, said the COVID-19 test vehicle would benefit members of the association in a number of ways as “the most important being that it reduces the risk of infection.”
He noted that some members in Lagos have already become infected, adding that the association is working to ensure that large number of healthcare workers are not infected in the country.
Fatogbe congratulated the founder of Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment, Dr. Ola Brown, and the team at the company for providing a lifesaving prototype.
He said: “The COVID-19 test vehicle will protect healthcare workers by shielding them from direct patient contact, thus preventing transmission which has been a tremendous problem in Europe, United States and Asia.
“Secondly, this solution will save money as PPEs will not need to be changed between patients as there will be no direct patient contact. This saving, which could be up to N10 million weekly could be diverted into other areas. Also, because the number of medical lab scientists in Nigeria is small compared to developed countries, it has become vital to optimise their time for the greater good. The time spent on teams travelling and testing people in their individual homes and even spent asking for directions could all otherwise limit the number of tests daily.”
He added that the COVID-19 test vehicle also provides a layer of security far beyond entering into patient’s homes.
