NASIR El- Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State says it costs the government about N400,000 to treat a COVID-19 patient in the state.
El-Rufai said this during his remark on Monday at the Executive Committee meeting of the Traditional Rulers chaired by Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto.
“It is a very expensive process, the last time I received a report, it costs about N400,000 to treat one coronavirus patient,” he said while speaking on COVID-19.
The governor said the cost of treatment of a COVID-19 patient to a number of factors, which according to him include medication, isolation, feeding and other expenses.
“He has to be isolated, he has to be fed and the costs of medicines have increased and even the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that the doctors treating them have to wear, if you add this up, the average cost of treatment is over N400,000,” El-Rufai explained.
He stated that although the number of cases has reduced, the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic has not been won in the state or the country until there is a vaccine.
“This is a battle that is yet to be won until we get vaccines and hopefully the treatment,” the governor noted.
El-Rufai said the traditional rulers have critical roles to play in ensuring that people at the grassroots adhere to government’s directives as part of measures to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus and other diseases.
He added that the challenges of the government in treating COVID-19 patients make it important for the people to ignore activities that may increase the spread of the virus in the Northern region or other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, in Lagos State, where the index case was recorded, treatment of COVID-19 patients varies depending on the condition of the victim, according to Gbenga Omotosho, the Lagos Commissioner for Information.
In a statement issued on July 24 to defend the assertion of the State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi who had said the government spends one million naira daily to treat COVID-19 patients.
Omotosho said the ‘Commissioner gave an indication of the considerations factored into the costing of intensive care, including ventilation, dialysis, intravenous antibiotics, oxygen and other high and intensive care requirements, depending on the complications of the case’.
According to him, the cost of intensive care, which usually requires a longer period of admission, may range between N500,000 to N1,000,000 per day.
He added that the one million naira is the ‘upper end of a band and, just as importantly, it applied to no more than 200 out of 2,490 admissions, majority of whom recovered’
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94