 |
|
From
Left: Director-General, Centre For Disease Control and Prevention, Prof.
Abdulsalam Nasidi; Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and Minister
of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, at the emergency National Council of Health meeting
on Lassa fever outbreak, in Abuja on Tuesday. 0298/19/1/2016/JAU/BJO/NAN
|
The Federal Government
has blamed poor response from state governments for the spread of Lassa fever
from 10 to 17 states in the country. The Federal Government accused some states of
hiding some suspected cases in their states while some others failed to take
proactive measures to follow up patients.
The
Punch report continues:
The
Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said this in Abuja during the
emergency National Council on Health meeting on Lassa fever outbreak on
Tuesday.
Adewole,
identified Ebonyi State as one of those that did not inform the Federal
Government about some cases.
The
minister also told the council of a patient referred from Ebonyi State to Irrua
Specialist Hospital in Edo State for treatment, who he said, absconded with a
relative.
He
directed that the patient should be traced and treated.
The
minister told the 418 delegates that the United Nations Children Fund would
support with more ribavirin medication to treat persons suffering from the
disease.
He
expressed surprise that many Nigerians had refused to believe that the epidemic
was real.
Adewole
said, “Ordinarily, we would not have called this meeting. We are worried and we
should be worried. This is why this meeting is important. This battle is not
for us alone. It is a nationwide exercise.”
He
thereafter named renowned virologist, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, as the Chairman of
the 19-man committee set up by the Federal Government to help proffer solution
to the disease.
Adewole,
who reiterated the capacity of the country to contain Lassa fever, explained
that there were enough health professionals to manage the disease.
He,
however, denied claims by the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of
Nigeria, that there were not enough diagnostic laboratories in the country.
According
to him, the Federal Government would establish new treatment centres for Niger,
Bauchi, Niger and Taraba, Plateau, Ondo and Ebonyi states “in addition to the
six that are active.”
Adewole
said, “We currently have testing capability in 14 testing centres some of which
are in Maiduguri, Kano, Iddo, Irrua, Lagos, Port Harcourt and the FCT. We have
treatment centres all over the country. We have enough personnel for managing
Lassa fever. Unlike Ebola Virus Disease that is untreatable, Lassa fever is
treatable. But we must start treatment on time to enable us to save the
patients…”
He emphasized that all the states in the country should be regarded as hotbed of
Lassa fever.
The
minister said 17 states in the country were battling Lassa fever while 212
suspected cases in 62 local governments had been in existence since last year
August.
He
also promised that the Federal Government would establish 109 Primary
Healthcare Centres on Lassa fever in each of the six geo-political zones of the
country in the next three months.
Adewole
said that government was determined to have a functional PHC centre in each
ward across the country, and assured Nigerians that there was enough drugs to
treat patients suffering from the ailment.
He,
however, warned that state governments should “not be under the illusion that
the Federal Government alone can take care of the health needs of this nation
because we must all drive it.”
The
Federal Government, he said, must not be the only one buying drugs for states,
adding, “The Federal Ministry of Health cannot be producing everything. Health
is on the concurrent list. We must do it together.”
In
his update on the disease, the Director of Nigerian Centre for Disease Control,
Prof. Abudulsalami Nasidi, expressed fear that 50 per cent of all suspected
Lassa fever cases in the country were not Lassa fever but might be symptoms of
a new virus.
Nasidi
said, “We are worried whether we are dealing with another virus. The cases are
different from Dengue, Ebola and Lassa fever,” Nasidi said.
He
added that all confirmed Lassa fever cases were tested in two different
laboratories.
In
his submission, the Niger State Commissioner for Health, Mustapha Jibril,
called for the inclusion of traditional healers and health practitioners in the
fight against the disease, as done in his state to stop the spread of the
disease.
However,
residents of Osun State panicked on Tuesday following the death of a medical
doctor at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile Ife who
was suspected to have died of Lassa fever on Tuesday.
One
of our correspondents gathered that the deceased, who returned from Ondo State
with an illness, was admitted at the intensive care unit of the hospital before
he died.
He
was said to have been vomiting blood and showing other symptoms associated with
the disease before he died on Monday.
A
source at the hospital said, “The doctor just returned from Ondo State and he
became ill. He was admitted on Sunday and he died on Monday. I was told that he
showed symptoms similar to Lassa fever.
“The
hospital has started contact tracing and some of the nurse and workers have
been placed under observation.”
The
chairman of a committee set up by the OAUTHC on Lassa fever, Prof. Adedeji Onayade,
when contacted on the telephone by one of our correspondents said although a
resident doctor died, the hospital had yet to confirm if he died of Lassa
fever.
Onayade
said, “A resident doctor died and we are suspecting Lassa fever among other
causes. We cannot say it is Lassa fever until test confirms it. “
The
Chairman of Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers, Dr. Isiaka
Adekunle, when contacted on the telephone said the association would suspend
its strike in case of an outbreak of disease.
Meanwhile a 65-year-old
lady from Ifiogwari Village, Ayamelunu, Anambra State, has died of Lassa fever
in Delta State.
 |
| Prof Tomori |
Lassa Fever Patient Flees Hospital, Says
Minister
•Tomori
heads 15-member eradication committee
The
Nation reports that Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole yesterday announced
the escape of a Lassa fever patient from hospital in Ebonyi State.
The
patient, whose identity was not made public, escaped from the health facility,
where he was receiving treatment.
The
minister said this during a meeting of the National Council on Health in Abuja.
The
council is the country’s highest advisory body on health.
The
minister inaugurated a 15-member Lassa fever eradication committee to address
the outbreak of the disease and other communicable disease in the country.
The
committee is headed by Prof. Oyewole Tomori.
The
minister said he received a text that a Lassa fever patient escaped from a
health facility in Ebonyi while undergoing treatment.
He
urged the relevant agency and state government to trace the patient and those
who might have had contact with him.
The
meeting approved that a high index of suspicion should be maintained and the
surveillance systems should be robust enough to detect further infections.
It
also approved the inauguration of the Multi-Sectoral Lassa Fever Eradication
Committee and implementation of the Multi-Sectoral Response Strategy against
the outbreak, which has claimed about 46 lives since it began last August in
Niger State.
Adewole
called on states to strengthen their surveillance systems, report cases and
collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Health for the successful
implementation of the response strategy.
The
council observed that unlike Ebola, Lassa fever is treatable if detected early,
stressing that there were adequate treatment centres in the country.
“Council,
therefore, reassured the public on the adequacy of the response to the outbreak
and urged the public, community and religious leaders to cooperate with health
agencies in their states to ensure prompt reporting of any suspected case,” the
meeting stated.
But
the committee chairman disabused the mind of the people on the possibility of
eradicating the disease.
Tomori
said as far as there were rodents, it would be impossible to eradicate the
disease.
He, however, said the
committee would work hard “to ensure that the disease is brought under control
to the point that it is no longer epidemic." 
No comments:
Post a Comment