Gombe Inaugurates Isolation Centre in Kaltungo

By Segun Awofadeji

A 60-bed capacity isolation centre has been inaugurated by the Gombe State Government at Kaltungo General Hospital in its determination to expand the frontiers of containment measures against COVID-19 pandemic.

The new centre, which used to be the snake bite treatment facility situated inside the General Hospital, Kaltungo was renovated and upgraded by the state government through the state taskforce on COVID-19 and equipped by CA- COVID, a coalition of Nigerian private sector.

Inaugurating the centre, the State Deputy Governor, Dr. Manassah Daniel Jatau who represented Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, said while the government funded the upgrade of the facility, CA-COVID, a coalition of Nigerian private sector in partnership with Central Bank of Nigeria furnished the facility with operational equipment.

He said that the gesture by CA-COVID was a big push on the state government in handling the Coronavirus pandemic which has a negative effect on entire humanity.

Dr. Jatau explained that as a global pandemic, Coronavirus had no known trend and presented a lot of thorny issues and challenges with no efficacious treatment known to mankind.

He expressed delight over the foresight exhibited by Governor Inuwa Yahaya and the hard working State Task force on COVID-19 who were doing everything possible to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the state.

The deputy governor charged other organisations to borrow a leaf from the donors (CA-COVID), appealing to members of the host community to assist the taskforce by giving them accurate and timely information about suspected cases for immediate quarantine, isolation and treatment.

The deputy governor also explained that, even though Gombe State had over 67% recovery rate and only 2% death rate, it was not yet over, especially that World Health Organisation warned that the pandemic may not go away early.

In their separate remarks, the Chairman, Task force on COVID-19, Prof. Idris Mohammed and the Mai Kaltungo, Mr. Saleh Mohammed appreciated CA-COVID for donating beds, PPEs and other items as their contributions in the fight against the disease in Gombe State.

The representative of CA-COVID, Mr. Louis Ugwuezi listed the items donated to the state to include 60 beds for Kaltungo, and 40 beds for Funakaye Isolation Centres, Personal Protective Equipment, PPEs among others.

CA-COVID is a joint initiative of leading investors and private sector leaders that launched to galvanise urgent support in the fight against COVID-19 and to strengthen Nigerian healthcare system.