10, 606 Lagosians Tested HIV Positive

At least , 10 , 606 Lagosians have tested positive for the
dreaded HIV disease in public hospitals and facilities in
Lagos State in the last one year , says the State
Government .
Commissioner for Health, Dr . Jide Idris disclosed this on
Tuesday at a ministerial press conference in Alausa ,
Lagos, southwest Nigeria .
The commissioner disclosed that out of the 58 , 792 people
counselled and tested for HIV , 10 , 606 of them were found
to be positive , which represented 18 percent of the total
figure .
He also said the government conducted the fourth phase
of sensitisation of Traditional Birth Attendant, TBA , on
Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV ,
PMTCT , Universal Safety Precaution , USP , and Referral
Linkage to PMTCT intervention .
According to him, 28 , 736 pregnant women were
counselled and tested during the outreach , out of which
340 were positive and referred to PMTCT services , adding
that 2 , 957 HIV positive clients commenced anti - retroviral
treatment in the last one year .
He disclosed that 1, 066 HIV positive pregnant women and
745 HIV exposed babies were placed on antiretroviral
vaccine prophylaxis.
Idris further disclosed that the taskforce on fake drugs
shut 194 pharmacies and drug stores in the last one year
for selling fake drugs without getting the needed approval
from the state government .
He added that the Health Facility Monitoring and
Accreditation Agency , HEFAMAA renewed the registration
of 1 , 125 private health facilities in the last one year and
monitored 781 health facilities, with 70 of the facilities
found wanting and served closure notice , while seven
facilities were shutdown during the period .
The commissioner further disclosed that of the 42 , 908
people screened for diabetes and hypertension , 6, 842 of
them were hypertensive while 1 , 382 were diabetic.
Idris asserted that the objective of the state government ’ s
large scale infrastructural development in the health
sector was based on the need to enhance the efficiency of
the health workforce as well as increasing the scope and
quality of service delivery in the health facilities .
He noted that the state had continued to invest in
delivering high quality human and environmentally
friendly infrastructure in the Health sector relevant to the
Millennium Development Goals, adding that infrastructure
development involved the revamping of health and related
structures through phased rehabilitation , equipping and
upgrading of existing health facilities and the
construction of new ones at all levels of care .
The Commissioner , who posited that the level of
infrastructural upgrade would hopefully continue to
attract Nigerian health professionals in Diaspora , listed
project embarked on and completed in the last one year to
include Cardiac and Renal Centre at Gbagada General
Hospital ; Construction of Mortuary at Badagry General
Hospital ; renovation , extension and equipping of mortuary
at General Hospitals in Epe and Ikorodu ; and renovation
and upgrading of Epe Comprehensive PHC Flagship
Centre .
“ Some projects were awarded during the period under
review and the implementation of ongoing projects was
adequately supervised with appropriate inter - ministerial
collaboration to ensure quality and timely delivery .
“ These projects include renovation , extension and
equipping of Old Ayinke House which is at 75 %
completion stage ; construction of a new Critical Care Unit
at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital
(LASUTH ) which is at 85 % completion stage and
construction of a four - storey Basic Medical Sciences
office block at Lagos State College of Medicine
(LASUCOM ) which is at 65 % completion stage , ” he said.