Lagos State Government, yesterday, said it spent up to N1 million daily to treat one Covid-19 patient.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Mr Akin Abayomi, disclosed this at a briefing to provide update on efforts by the state in managing the pandemic.

Abayomi stated that for mild and moderate cases, the state government spends averagely about N100,000 daily, while it costs the state government between N500,000 and N1 million to treat a patient with serious or intensive Covid-19 case.

He, however, said that it was very difficult to calculate what it costs the state government to treat a Covid-19 patient but that what he provided was a rough estimate. The treatment, according to him, includes the cost of feeding, accommodation and the services provided by the healthcare givers, among others.

The commissioner said the state government had discontinued the idea of using a rapid diagnostic kit to test patients because research showed that it failed validation, as it provided inaccurate results.

Abayomi also disclosed that 2,036 Covid-19 patients had not been picked from the community in the last two weeks due to their preference for home treatment, wrong information provided in their forms and inability to reach such patients.

On the advice by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 that some local councils in Lagos State be locked down due to the high positive Coronavirus recorded in such councils, the commissioner said that the impossibility of implementing the lockdown made the state government not to consider it.

He disclosed that 60 per cent of the positive Covid-19 cases in Lagos were shared among five local councils of Eti-Osa, Alimosho, Kosofe, Ikeja and Oshodi-Isolo.

The Guardian