COVID 19: How prepared is Cross River in handling any outbreak of the pandemic in the state? ...A wake up call to the Government and people of Cross River State.

COVID 19: How prepared is Cross River in handling any outbreak of the pandemic in the state?

...A wake up call to the Government and people of Cross River State.

By Simon Utsu
Coneri Magazine

Ayade did well to shut the Cross River borders some days ago and also place men everywhere to ensure there was compliance but I'm just hearing that there's a suspected case of Corona and the person is under close monitoring at the UCTH isolation centre. Lagos has a near state-of-the-art isolation centre and the commissioner for health, Professor Akinola Abayomi(pictured), a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Pathologists of the United Kingdom has so far, done a yeoman's job. It may be too early but I think he's my man of the year already.
 Aside the awareness campaign embarked upon by the CRS health commissioner & her team, I'm still not convinced that the state is ready to tackle this pandemic. In fact, as it is, Cross River would be overwhelmed by Covid-19 if it indeed makes landing. Please, can the health commissioner & her team prove me wrong? We need to see the isolation centre equipped with the basic stuff; including the six ventilators(anaesthetic machines) that were displayed before the media last week. In the absence of adaptive respirators, maybe the centre can make do with a couple of the anaesthetic ventilators(I stand to be corrected). I'll also advise commissioner Betta Edu to reach out to her predecessors like Dr Edet Ikpi who has decades of private and public sector medical consultancy experience underneath his belt, to help her out. In times like these, all hands must be on deck.
Please everyone in Calabar should be on the alert- and also hope and pray that the suspected  Covid-19 case currently under monitoring at the UCTH, doesn't test positive. In the absence of preparedness; hope and prayer seems to be all we have left 😣😣😣😣