At least, 10,606 Lagosians have tested positive for the dreaded HIV disease in public hospitals and facilities in Lagos State in the last one year, says the State Government. Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris disclosed this on Tuesday at a ministerial press conference in Alausa, Lagos, southwest Nigeria. The commissioner disclosed that out of the 58,792 people counselled and tested for HIV, 10,606 of them were found to be positive, which represented 18 percent of the total figure.
He also said the government conducted the fourth phase of sensitisation of Traditional Birth Attendant, TBA, on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, PMTCT, Universal Safety Precaution, USP, and Referral Linkage to PMTCT intervention.
According to him, 28,736 pregnant women were counselled and tested during the outreach, out of which 340 were positive and referred to PMTCT services, adding that 2,957 HIV positive clients commenced anti-retroviral treatment in the last one year.
He disclosed that 1,066 HIV positive pregnant women and 745 HIV exposed babies were placed on antiretroviral vaccine prophylaxis. Idris further disclosed that the taskforce on fake drugs shut 194 pharmacies and drug stores in the last one year for selling fake drugs without getting the needed approval from the state government.
He added that the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, HEFAMAA renewed the registration of 1,125 private health facilities in the last one year and monitored 781 health facilities, with 70 of the facilities found wanting and served closure notice, while seven facilities were shutdown during the period. The commissioner further disclosed that of the 42,908 people screened for diabetes and hypertension, 6,842 of them were hypertensive while 1,382 were diabetic.
Idris asserted that the objective of the state government’s large scale infrastructural development in the health sector was based on the need to enhance the efficiency of the health workforce as well as increasing the scope and quality of service delivery in the health facilities.
He noted that the state had continued to invest in delivering high quality human and environmentally friendly infrastructure in the Health sector relevant to the Millennium Development Goals, adding that infrastructure development involved the revamping of health and related structures through phased rehabilitation, equipping and upgrading of existing health facilities and the construction of new ones at all levels of care.
The Commissioner, who posited that the level of infrastructural upgrade would hopefully continue to attract Nigerian health professionals in Diaspora, listed project embarked on and completed in the last one year to include Cardiac and Renal Centre at Gbagada General Hospital; Construction of Mortuary at Badagry General Hospital; renovation, extension and equipping of mortuary at General Hospitals in Epe and Ikorodu; and renovation and upgrading of Epe Comprehensive PHC Flagship Centre.
“Some projects were awarded during the period under review and the implementation of ongoing projects was adequately supervised with appropriate inter-ministerial collaboration to ensure quality and timely delivery.
“These projects include renovation, extension and equipping of Old Ayinke House which is at 75% completion stage; construction of a new Critical Care Unit at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) which is at 85% completion stage and construction of a four-storey Basic Medical Sciences office block at Lagos State College of Medicine (LASUCOM) which is at 65% completion stage,” he said.
