Chukwudi Akasike, Port Harcourt
The acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, has promised that the agency will provide ventilators and oxygen as part of its contribution to the fight against coronavirus.
He said they would intervene to protect the people of Niger Delta from the dreaded disease.
Speaking at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Pondei said as an interventionist agency, the commission would collaborate with other stakeholders in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said, “We have started looking at different isolation points in the nine states of the Niger Delta region. We are interacting with the states to find out what is on the ground and we are taking stock of the ventilators and oxygen in health facilities across the region.”
Pondei said the treatment of the disease was not limited to drugs, but included the ability to make sure that the patients were able to breathe properly and this should be done using ventilators.
Pondei said, “This morning we found that there are about 500 ventilators in the entire country. We are exploring avenues to see if we could intervene in providing ventilators. Similarly, oxygen is difficult to procure in the country.
“The Federal Government through the ministry of health has a policy on oxygen, which has not been disseminated very well. There are very few oxygen production plants in the country and some of the existing ones have actually broken down. But the provision of oxygen is key to the treatment.”
