Life Centre COVID-19 testing, treatment facility opens in Lagos

A new COVID-19 testing and treatment facility, Life Centre, has commenced operation in the Gbagada area of Lagos State. Located inside the Gbagada General Hospital, Life Centre boasts of the facility to treat even severe cases of the virus.

The Medical Director, Dr. Obashina Ogunbiyi, a retired Major General, said: “Life Centre is driven by specialised and skilled manpower for treatment of the COVID-19 disease and a maximum turn around time for the COVID-19 test result.

“This is a licensed COVID-19 testing and treatment facility – Our test results here are acceptable at Lagos airport and any other airport for travellers.”

He told The Guardian that the facility was set up to offer world-class testing and treatment of COVID-19 patients at a “very affordable rate.”

Dr. Ogunbiyi, the first black member of the council of the World Federation of Intensive and Critical Care, noted that the facility “has an ambience that gives you the feeling that you’re in either a South African or new UK District or BUPA hospital.”

He further stated that the Life Centre was set up for patients of middle and high class who desire private treatment.

“The aim is to offer the best treatment option for COVID-19 in an ambience that will improve patients’ well-being. This is a standardised facility,” Ogunbiyi said.

The medical director disclosed that the facility, which currently has a 40-bed space, self-contained apartment and side rooms for patients, offers treatment for three classes of patients – low care, mid care and high care.

He explained that low care patients are persons that have the disease but are asymptomatic with mild symptoms like coughing. “Mid-care patients are persons with co-morbidity (the presence of two or more diseases in the same person) with hypertension, diabetes and other ailments. High care patients are patients experiencing ‘air hunger’ and severely and critically ill of the disease who require to be transferred to intensive care units.”

With the emergence of the second wave of COVID-19, Ogunbiyi stated that Life Centre has the skilled specialists to treat any variant.

“The challenge of the new variant is the speed of infectivity of patients. The treatment for all COVID-19 patients are all the same and we have highly skilled specialists to treat it.”

He, however, urged Nigerians to take responsibility in the fight against the global pandemic.

“Being compliant to COVID-19 protocol is a personal decision to be responsible without the government enforcing or putting a law in place. However we take it, it is about our personal safety and responsibility,” Ogunbiyi said.