COVID-19: FMC expands facilities, mulls kidney transplant, other services

The Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jabi, Federal Capital Territory, Prof Saad Ahmed has said the FMC is expanding its facilities to provide specialised services, including laparoscopy surgery and kidney transplant. 

He also said the hospital would soon start admitting COVID-19 patients, as it already has well-trained staff and a 40-bed negative pressure facility that has been commissioned.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the hospital’s new administrative building, yesterday, in Abuja, Ahmed noted that the first wave of COVID-19 came with a lot of scares, which affected clinical services because not much was known about the biology of the virus. 

He observed that basic healthcare services have been restored fully and patients are no longer being sent back for fear of COVID-19, adding that once there is any suspected case, the patient is taken to a holding area, where the definitive test is done. 

Ahmed stated that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has supplied the hospital with rapid test kits to help in emergency settings to be able to triage and that if there is any suspected case, the hospital can quickly run the test and in less than 15 minutes, the results will be out. “It has become quite easier,” he said. 

Also, the hospital’s Board Chairman, Alex Tosan Ideh said the project was conceived about two and a half years ago to make the hospital function effectively. The ICU in the hospital is being properly renovated and equipped. The contract for the molecular lab has been awarded,” he said.