Guardian

LAGOS State government said on Tuesday that the Cardiac and Renal Centre, the first of its kind in the country will be ready for take-off by July 2013.

This is just as the government said it procured and distributed no fewer than 500,000 male and female condoms to residents in the last one year.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who revealed this at the ministerial press briefing to commemorate the sixth anniversary of Governor Babatunde Fashola administration said the Centre will see surgeries of life threatening heart and kidney-related diseases performed in Lagos.

Idris said the government was anxious to get the Centre, located within the premises of the Gbagada General Hospital up and running, revealing that finishes touches are currently in place before official commissioning.

He said, “it’s taking quite a while. The government is anxious to get it up and running. We had a meeting last week with the contractor, we are in discussion with the group that will manage it, we would train our medical personnel there, in the next two or three months, we should be done, we are putting finishing touches, air conditioning systems, by next month, you will begin to see more activities in that areas. It is our hope that when the centre takes off, the trend of embarking on foreign trips for heart and kidney surgeries will be minimal”.

On the distribution of condoms, Idris said the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LASACA), was charged with the responsibility, saying the step was part of government’s efforts to prevent and control HIV/AIDS in the state.

Idris said 84,000 HIV/AIDS booklets were also distributed during period to provide adequate enlightenment on the scourge and promote safe sex behaviour among residents.

“We have also established HIV/AIDS counselling and Testing Centres in health facilities across the state as part of measures to check the prevalence of the scourge.

“These centres provide clients with all they need on HIV/AIDS, counselling, treatment and others. It is another of our strategy, among so many to check the problem”, he explained.

He noted that 102,279 clients were screened and counselled by LASACA in the last one year, adding 9,660 of those screened tested positive.

Idris also said the government had established 24 Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) sites across the state, adding the centres had collectively treated 36,269 patients in the last 12 months.

He added that the government was collaborating with Traditional Birth Attendants on Prevention of Mother-To Child Transmission (PMCT), saying 500 TBAs had been trained on PMCT in the last one year.

On malaria control and prevention, the commissioner said the government had distributed a total of 133,950 Rapid Diagnosis Tests (RDTs) in the last one year to aid diagnosis of malaria cases.

He added that a total of 1,035,194 of ACT and 9,000 ampoules were also distributed for the treatment of uncomplicated and severe malaria cases in the state during the same period.

Idris stated that the state had achieved about 100 per cent polio immunisation coverage, stressing the government would continue to step up efforts at eradicating the problem.

The commissioner said no fewer than 86,822 residents benefitted from the Eko Free Health mission in the last one year, adding 338 surgical procedures were performed.