Covid-19: Abuja Hospital’s Faces Oxygen, Bed Space Shortages For Critical Cases

The second wave of COVID-19 virus seems to be taking a dangerous turn in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja going by a shortage of oxygen and bed spaces for critical cases.

A doctor, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “We have excess bed spaces for mild, asymptomatic to moderate cases. We have enough room at the Dome for now and the Idu isolation centre can be easily put together since it is not a hospital but was purpose-built for COVID-19 and the beds are still there. All we need to do is just to clean up and decontaminate the place.

“But the problem is that we don’t have enough spaces for severe cases. It is only the National Hospital and Gwagwalada that are used for treatment of severe cases and Gwagwalada is filled to capacity every day.

“Even if they discharge five, another six will come in. It is full to the brim and overcrowded. It is supposed to be a 26-bed space but now they operate between 30 and 34 daily and almost half of them are on permanent oxygen. This is an impending disaster.”

“At Gwagwalada, the oxygen generator donated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation can generate only four cylinders of oxygen a day. Do you know the daily consumption of Gwagwalada? It’s 20 cylinders a day. There was a time the Nigerian Air Force said they could get us oxygen from Yola which they would fly in.”

“We gave them a request of 200 cylinders but they could only bring 100 cylinders. So, those 100 cylinders is just the supply for five days. Prof Odekunle died after his oxygen finished. He died when we were trying to change his oxygen.”

“The doctors and nurses are overwhelmed in Gwagwalada. There are only eight doctors and nine nurses in a place where one health worker is not meant to be there for more than six hours at a time,” he said.

The Chairman, Medical Sub-Committee of the COVID-19 Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee in Abuja, Dr Ejike Oji, said it was true that Abuja was facing a shortage of bed spaces for critical COVID-19 patients.

Oji said the pressure would reduce once the infectious disease hospital was inaugurated. He praised the doctors at UATH Gwagwalada for how they had been able to manage the pressure so far, adding that the CMD had done well despite shortage of funds.