The Aliko Dangote Foundation, ADF, has donated a mobile testing laboratory to Kano State government in its ongoing fight against coronavirus in the state.
Speaking at the commissioning of the facility, which was established at Muhammadu Buhari Specialists Hospital in Kano on Sunday, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, CEO of the Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, said the gesture was to support the federal government to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in Kano.
According to her, the facility, built in partnership with 54 Gene Laboratory, has the capacity to test 1,000 samples a day, but would start with 400 samples per day for the period of two weeks.
She explained that the state government would operate the facility free, as Dangote Foundation had taken care of all the logistic and operational costs of the facility.
“This facility is conceived by Nigerians in Nigeria. It has been established out of concern by Aliko Dangote over the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic in Kano state.
“The foundation would not relent in using its investments in health, education, and economic empowerment to help lift people out of sickness and poverty,” she said.
In the same vein, Mrs Youssoufou announced the donation of 10 ambulances to the state’s Rapid Response Teams, RRT, to ease their work of tracing and conveying suspected COVID-19 cases across the healthcare centers in the state.
“ADF will immediately handover to the Kano RRT, 10 new ambulances (4 that are immediately available and 6 over the next week), two vehicles and PPEs to support the transportation of patients from different parts of the state,” she explained.
The CEO added that the foundation would support the Kano State Covid-19 contact call center, “by providing extra phone lines and ICT infrastructure as well as training for the call center staff”.
“We are supporting training and incentives for covid-19 health workers. We will provide hazard incentives and protections for the healthcare and lab workers who are working on the covid-19 response.
“We are also providing training to them, initially online and via distance learning, and will complement his with in-person training in Kano under strict IPC protocols developed in conjunction with the NCDC.
In his remarks, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje thanked Mr Dangote for his response to containing the spread of coronavirus in the state.
He said: “There is no doubt we started on a shaky foundation, with the assistance of ADF, we can see that a friend in need is a friend indeed.
“We are very grateful for the mobile testing Centre witch will launch with 400 samples per day and after a week, increase to 1,000 tests per day.
“It is now left for us to intensify efforts to collect samples. We will ensure that all that 44 Local Government Council have collection centres.
“Here in the metropolitan local government, we will have over a hundred of collection centres because this is where the majority of the population is,” said Mr Ganduje.
The governor added that the state had intensified efforts to create awareness about the reality of coronavirus, commending the Dangote Foundation for always occupying the forefront of helping in critical times like this.
