COVID-19: Dangote donates mobile test centre, 10 ambulances to Kano

Kano State Government has taken delivery of Mobile Molecular Diagnostic Centre for COVID-19 donated by Dangote Foundation sited at Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital.

Delivering the facilities, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, said the gesture was part of the philanthropic endeavor of Aliko Dangote to ease the shortage of diagnosis of samples of COVID-19 in the country.

Youssouffou said the new established 54Gene which already deployed in Lagos and Ogun states by the foundation was duly accredited by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

She said the Dangote Foundation is determined to increase the number of testing centers nationwide through Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) to the NCDC on increasing test centers across the country.

On his part, the director general (NCDC) Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu applauded the institutional supports of the private sector led by Dangote Foundation in Kano, just as he assured Kano state government sufficient supports to check the upsurge of COVID-19 pandemic in Kano.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said
the mobile testing centre will further enhance ability of the taskforce to examine many samples.

He said “the gesture is well applaudable to have such very important facility in the state – a new established Mobile Testing Centre has the capacity of conducting 400 tests daily.

“As we are targeting more Testing Centres in the state, the richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote as a son of the soil donates this Mobile Testing Centre which will eventually help to increase the number of test.”

The 54gene mobile testing laboratory with 40ft structure steel container built technology, provides a unique plug-and-play solution to eliminate logistics of shipping samples to another infrastructure for processing.

Also donated by the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote are 10 ambulances and three official vehicles as part of corporate supports to strength the war against the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in Kano.

Like the existing Centre activated by Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) with testing capacity of 80 samples daily, the Multi billion Dangote pathology laboratory is enabled to examine 400 samples per day.

Dangote had earlier donated a 500 bed space isolation centre situated at Sani Abacha stadium to the government to accommodate the surge in the figure of positive cases in Kano.