Canada Spends $23m on Nine Medical Oxygen Plants in Nigeria
The Canadian Government said that it expended not less than $23 million to build and equip nine medical oxygen plants in nine States.
The Country’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, James Christoff announced this when he visited one of the facilities in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The project was jointly executed with Rivers State Government and IHS Towere engineers, through the United Children Education Fund (UNICEF).
It has the capacity to fill 137 20-1litre medical oxygen bottles in 24 hours and was commissioned by Governor Siminialayi Fubara last month.
However, Christoff was absent at the commissioning ceremony and visited yesterday to see things for himself.
Speaking shortly after the tour of the building, he expressed satisfaction in what he saw and noted that the need to execute the facility in nine Nigerian States was discovered during post pandemic need assessment Survey.
He said: “I recognise that the building was commissioned earlier in August, but I want to come and see it for myself.
“You know pandemic hit the world quite hard and in ways that it remains lingering in terms of the fact and the aftermaths.
” In all we recognise there are ways we need to come together to address shortcomings that were revealed during our national response.
“Now the plant is not just supplying valuable oxygen to those who need it, it is another example of where the Government of Rivers State, the local health authorities, international; community, the United Nations System are able to come together, identify a problem, put it on the table and have those from the international community respond in kind.
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“The Government of Canada provided $23 million to support the building of nine facilities across Nigeria including this one and to respond to similar gaps that we have identified during our response. So it is with great pride that I’m here today as Canada’s representative here in Nigeria.”
In his goodwill message, Surveillance Officer of World Health Organization (WHO), Mrs Deborah Umogbai Akinola noted that the need for oxygen in managing patients challenged by different diseases such as pneumonia, respiratory illnesses such as Covid, Tauma, surgery among others cannot be over emphasised.
Akinola revealed that pneumonia alone kills over 800, 000 persons every year in Nigeria, regreting that 40 per cent of the deaths would have been prevented with oxygen.
She expressed the confidence that with the development, the very essential health commodity would be more readily available for those whose would need them to stay alive.
“Pneumonia alone accounts for about 800, 000 deaths, and 40 per cent of these deaths can be prevented if oxygene therapy is readily available.”
She thanked the Canadian Government, the WHO and UNICEF partners, and the construction firm who built the project.
Chief of Field Office UNICEF Port Harcourt, Dr Anselem Audu, expected that the plant would deliver supllies to both Private and public hospitals in the State to improve the health of the populace.
“The funding for the establishment of the facility was fully provided by the Canadian Government, IHS Towers through UNICEF, and the government in their wisdom has insured private-public -partnership to ensure the sustainability of the plant, so with that we’re optimistic that medical oxygen would be readily available for every patient that would need it,” he said.
