Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has Thursday called Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to ensure enforcement of necessary enabling laws to check the continuous spread of the coronavirus disease.
Obasa made the call when the House received Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi and some officials and representatives of 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.
The Speaker, who noted that all hands must be on deck to deal with the pandemic once- and -for -all, pointed out it was neither the time to relent nor take the back seat.
He also called for new ideas to confront looming challenges.
While commending the executive arm for the role it had played so far in combatting the pandemic, the Speaker maintained that necessary laws must be applied to stop the continuous spread of the deadly virus.
The speaker said; “I believe we should come up with new ideas to deal with the coming challenges.
“There is a law which we have passed and people must obey these laws. If there is need to amend certain parts of the law, let us do that.
“People who are infected should not refuse to go to isolation centres. They should be arrested, that is why we have the laws.”
While imploring the local government and local council development areas officials to join in the fight aimed at bring an end to the pandemic, the Speaker said: “As local government officials, this is the time to show action and convince your people at the grassroots.”
Commissioner for Health, who briefed the lawmakers on the challenges in dealing with the deadly virus, disclosed that a very large number of people have been infected with the disease but because they are asymptomatic, they have been going about infecting others.
Abayomi also lamented the inaccessibility of drugs used in treating those in the isolation centres, saying: “One of the major problems we are having is the access to drugs used in treating the patients. Because the drugs are not produced locally, it has been difficult getting them and because this pandemic is a global thing, the demand for these drugs are in excess.
“Also, we have about 35 ventilators that have not been fully activated because we don’t have the personnel to man these gadgets.
“For one ventilator, you need about six different medical personnel to handle it. But in a matter of days, these ventilators will be activated for use,” he said.
