By Asmau Ahmad
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, on Friday said that the state had exited the fifth COVID-19 wave, noting that severe complications from the disease had ended.
Abayomi said this during the launch of a Lithotripsy Machine donated to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Lagos on Friday.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had on July 8, in a public health advisory, warned of the onset of fifth COVID-19 wave arising from increasing daily infections.
According to the commissioner, though COVID-19 infection is still present, many residents have developed immunity against the disease from natural infection or vaccination.
“Now that we’ve weaned ourselves out of the fifth COVID-19 wave, it’s still rumbling around, but most residents have enough immunity either from natural infection or vaccination.
“We are not seeing the severe complications of COVID-19 infection any more,” Abayomi said.
He said that the Lithotripsy Machine, donated by Mr Idowu Obasa, would assist many patients who would have otherwise gone through painful and dangerous medical procedures.
He said that the donation made LASUTH the first recipient of Lithotripsy Machine in public health facilities in Nigeria.
According to him, Lithotripsy is a noninvasive (the skin is not pierced) procedure that uses shock waves or lasers to break down stones in the kidneys, bladder or ureters.
He explained that kidney stones occur when minerals and other substances in the urine crystallise in one’s kidneys, forming solid masses or stones that are too large to pass through the urinary tract.
He commended the donor, noting that the machine would further assist LASUTH in raising the standard of healthcare in the state and also the country.
Commenting, Obasa said he was inspired to purchase the machine when he heard about the equipment gap.
“In 2009, I used this machine in India for a procedure in just a normal hospital, not private, not expensive and honestly it’s shameful that we have to go to India to get things that we ought to get here.
“I’m a chronic kidney disease patient, among other things. I’m one of the people that medical practitioners call, ‘with many underlying conditions.’ I’m like a chemist when I start using my drugs.
“I have been privileged to be attended to in so many hospitals all over the world and I want to say that our doctors are better qualified than most of the people we meet.
“My experience in India inspired me and I said, why should India have these machines scattered all over the place and we don’t have any here?” Obasa said.
The lawmaker noted that adequate equipment was critical to quality healthcare service delivery and commended the state government for maintaining excellence in the health sector.
