Following the low number of people who have had to undergo COVID-19 testing, just less than 10,000 as against Ghana and South Africa, who have tested
Following the low number of people who have had to undergo COVID-19 testing, just less than 10,000 as against Ghana and South Africa, who have tested over 60,000 and 100,000 people respectively, putting into the consideration the fact that Nigeria is the most populous black nation on the continent with almost 200 million people, there is no doubt that Nigeria is grossly under testing.
And with test kits not readily available, only 12 functional laboratories for COVID-19 testing in the country, there is the utmost need to ramp up testing and prevent a full-blown pandemic that may be very difficult to manage in the coming weeks. The Lagos State government has been at the fore front of tackling this by providing additional testing centres in some local government areas to ramp up COVID-19 testing.
Another issue of concern that relates to COVID-19 tests is how healthcare workers can be protected in their line of duty as they are the ones who face and battle with the real danger. And with the peculiarity of Nigeria’s healthcare system, protective wears are somewhat of a luxury in this clime. Just a few days ago, the health minister announced that about 40 healthcare workers have tested positive to deadly pandemic. A few health workers have already lost their lives for coming in contact with infected patients.
These are some of the things that prompted a certain Nigerian doctor, Ola Brown, a trauma surgeon, into providing another means of increasing the number of COVID-19 tests carried out while also protecting health care workers, with her creation, mobile COVID-19 testing booths.
With the booths, testing will not only be increased, health care workers will be able to carry out tests on people without endangering themselves as they do not come in direct contact with anyone they are testing. Also, because they are mobile, they can be easily moved from one place to another while also saving money on Personal Protective Equipment which costs N50,000 a piece and are in short supply.
The booth is a simple wood and glass contraption with gloves sticking out of two holes. A healthcare worker walks into the booth which shields him/her from anyone and dips hands into the gloves which protrudes out of the booth to take samples without being in direct contact with the patient. The samples are then dropped in a nearby container outside the both while the health worker is still in the booth.
After each exercise, the gloves are sprayed and disinfected to drastically reduce infection from the virus which may drop on the gloves in readiness for another test.
Dr Ola Brown
