Get Guardian on GoogleNigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) has concluded plans to deploy non-invasive ventilators to hospitals and isolation centers for the treatment of respiratory distressed COVID-19 patients.
The Director General, NIMR, Prof. Babatunde Salako, made this known in Lagos during the CIRCUM VENT train the trainer’s training.
He said the objective of the training was to make ventilators available in resource-limited settings, to expand patient treatment options while safeguarding health care providers from exposure to aerosolised Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Salako said the initiative would reduce mortality and morbidity because the country does not have enough ventilators as fears of the second wave of the pandemic mount.
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The Director General noted that training would equip COVID-19 healthcare providers with requisite knowledge to recognize early signs of hypoxemia (low-level of oxygen in the blood) and initiate early non-invasive treatment for hypoxemia, with a helmet ventilation system without allowing carbon dioxide (CO2) buildup and CIRCUM VENT
“The non-invasive ventilator can prevent respiratory distress in people with COVID-19 who already have their lungs affected. We feel that this could save a lot of people. So, we needed to train people who will be using it. We decided to get in touch with the Federal Ministry of Health and with our contacts within the Presidential Task Force (PTF) we have donated about 60 of these machines.
We have also donated to centres across the geopolitical zone to familiarise themselves with the use,” he stated.
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