Proprietors of private schools have rejected the plan by the
federal government to convert their facilities to isolation centres for
COVID-19 patients.
Speaking at the briefing of the presidential task force on
COVID-19 on May 28, Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, asked schools and
hotels to be prepared in the event of a shortage of bed spaces for patients.
“We need to continue increasing bed capacity to match the
probable number of patients so that we do not experience horrific scenes of bed
space shortages seen in some European hospitals,” he said
“In event of overflow, we can require hotels and school
dormitories to be prepared for level 1 (Quarantine) and level 2 Isolation (of
COVID-19 positive with zero or mild symptoms), to free hospital beds to be
dedicated to level 3, (moderate to severe cases) and level 4, (high dependency
and intensive care unit).”
However, in a statement on Sunday, the private school owners
under the aegis of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools
(NAPPS), rejected the the idea.
Yomi Otubela, NAPPS president, said: “I don’t know how many
of the western countries whose methods we are copying use schools as isolation
centres; I have not seen any.
“We should copy and copy rightly. Schools are meant for
children and we should not use them for a purpose that will make them abandon
schooling.
“Private school owners reject this idea. In fact, private
schools should be considered for reopening because it is easy to maintain
physical distancing than in public schools because they are usually crowded.
“Private school owners will not and never allow the use of
their facilities for isolation centres.”
He urged the government to consider converting large
expanses of land and abandoned facilities as isolation centres.
“There are large expanses of land and moribund hospital
facilities that the government can quickly fix and use for isolation centres,”
Otubela said.
According to the ministry of health, as of May 27, 2020,
Nigeria had a total of 112 treatment and isolation centres with 5,324 bed
spaces.
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