COVID-19: Lagos Spends N1 Million Daily On Each Patient ‘With Severe Condition’— Health Commissioner

The Lagos State Health Commissioner commissioner, Akin Abayomi, has said the state government spends an average of N1 million daily on each patient with severe coronavirus.

Mr Abayomi said this on Thursday during a press briefing on COVID-19 Infection in the state.

While responding to a question on the cost of managing COVID-19 patients in the state, the commissioner said it depends on the condition of the patients.

He said the state spends an average of N100,000 daily on patients with mild or moderate infections, while those with severe cases require an average of N1 million daily due to their critical needs.

“To treat mild to moderate case patients in our Isolation centre is somewhere in the region of N100, 000 per day. This gives you an idea on the amount of money the government is spending on COVID-19 isolation facilities and COVID-19 care in the state.

“If you require high care or intensive care, that amount can go up from anything from N500, 000 to even a million naira per day,” the Commissioner said.

Mr Abayomi said factors that determine the cost of care for each patient include whether the patient needs ventilation, oxygen, dialysis, intravenous antibiotics and others.

“Every case is different, so it is very difficult to calculate exactly how much a patient in high care or intensive care would cost.”

Mr Abayomi added that the cost of care of patients include facilities, infrastructure, human resources and “other aspects of COVID-19 care and management”.

The commissioner said the ministry is working on calculating the exact rate for various patients and this would be made available to reporters.

Lagos recorded 203 new cases of coronavirus infection on Thursday, increasing the total confirmed cases to 14,009.

Also, 192 deaths have been recorded from the virus so far in the state.