Aftermath of COVID Intervention: 70% of Oxygen Equipment Lying Waste, Says Global Fund

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Global Fund, an international organization providing support for the fight against the scourge of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria across the world has alleged that an estimated 70 percent of oxygen equipment procured to help strengthen Nigeria ‘s health system are yet to be deployed for medical service.

The coordinator of Country Coordinating Mechanism of the Global Fund, Mr. Ibrahim Tajudeenm said that most of this oxygen equipment have been kept under lock and key at the various medical stores in the states.

Oxygen concentrator as the instrument is commonly referred to is used to provide assistance to patients in critical health situations, particularly those finding it difficult to breathe and are admitted in hospital intensive care unit.

Speaking at an Advocacy-focused Media Dissemination meeting of the Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN) held in Abuja on Friday, Tajudeen said that efforts of civil society towards ensuring increased access to improved health services at the country’s health facilities are quite on course.

However, Tajudeen said: “While it is important to state that we have made significant progress in terms of strengthening the health system across the 36 states and the FCT, unfortunately the findings and information at our disposal revealed that this investment towards pandemic preparedness response has not been fully optimized.

“And at this stage we need to sensitize the government entity, the civil society and the general public on the need for us to put these instruments into use.

“For example, the oxygen equipment procured through Global Fund resources as at the last count, conservatively 70 percent of these equipment are still under lock and key at various state central medical stores or teaching hospital medical stores”.

Ibrahim said that the essence of the procurement of the equipment was to strengthen the health system and relieve the citizens of financial burden of out-of-pocket expenses on medical treatment.

However, he said that a situation where these equipment delivered to the states were abandoned and left to waste leaves much to be desired.

While giving details of the grants provide for pandemic preparedness, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said that COVID grant amounting to over $272 million was received by Nigeria, covering a period of 2020 to 2025.

She said that the grant was specifically meant for pandemic preparedness response, adding it came about due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

“The purpose for which the grant was set up was to ensure the country was able to mitigate the effects of the COVID -19 and towards provision of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria services,” she said.

She noted that at the height of COVID -19 outbreak, there was disruption of health service delivery which necessitated the move to strengthen health system through setting up of laboratories and providing oxygen equipment.

According to her, the investment of the grant was targeted at not only managing the COVID health challenge but to prepare against future health emergencies.

On its part, the Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN) have suggested the active involvement of communities in securing both hospitals facilities and health workers.

The national coordinator of ACOMIN, Ayo Ipinmoye, said that lack of adequate security for the healthcare facilities is greatly affecting the operations of the hospitals especially those located in the rural areas.

He said that ACOMIN has identified various challenges impeding the ability of health facilities to deliver optimal care during the implementation of community-led monitoring activities.

These challenges include; lack of essential resources, such as medical equipment, medicines, staff shortages and inadequate security measures.

Other shortcomings also included; deterioration of infrastructure, broken equipment, lack of constant or alternate power supply and poorly maintained water and sanitation systems.

“These problems have contributed to further reduction in the efficiency and quality of healthcare services at most of the Primary Health Centres and is greatly effecting the morale of staff”, Global Fund and ACOMIN said.

He said there has been a lot of reported cases of theft of hospital equipment and attacks on health workers while on duty resulting from poor security at the health facilities.

“This manifests in various forms such as the absence of physical barriers, security personnel and other safety measures which pose risks to both patients and healthcare workers, particularly in high-risk areas.

“Without proper security, healthcare facilities become vulnerable to theft, vandalism and violence,” he said.

Ipinmoye said the various ways communities can secure the facilities are by establishing neighborhood watch programme, hiring security personnel to protect health workers and raising funds to install security infrastructure.