John Adams, Minna
No fewer than 15 people have been confirmed dead following a Cholera outbreak in Bida Local Government Area of Niger State.
Ten other persons were in critical condition at the Umoru Sanda Memorial Hospital, in Bida, of the total of 60 cases of the disease reported so far in the area.
Officials of the Council have, therefore, raised the alarm over the spread of the disease which they said must be urgently curtailed.
According to an official letter from the Bida Local Government Council, signed by the Council Secretary, Suleiman Sheshi, on behalf of the Chairman, and dated June 18, 2018 which was addressed to the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mustapha Jibrin, it said that the Council had no capacity to contain the outbreak.
The letter, a copy of which was made available to our Correspondent, in Minna, on Monday evening, called on the state government to urgently come to the rescue of the Council, stressing that as at the time of the outbreak (Sunday) “only one medical Doctor was on call at the hospital due to manpower shortage”.
“The General Hospital is lacking medical consumables and adequate facilities to cater for the present “emergent” health challenge. 15 out of the 60 people infected with the disease have been confirmed dead.”
The letter continues: “The present situation at hand cannot be handled by the Bida LGA alone, part of the reason why this letter is written is to request for superior intervention from the state government. Prompt action from your part will, without any doubt, save a lot of lives presently at critical point of survival”, the letter concluded.
In the meantime, the Council had in another letter titled “announcement” advised the peiple of the LGA to maintain the highest hygiene in other to avoid the spread of the outbreak.
Specifically, the Council warned against drinking of unhygienic water which is capable of spreading the disease in addition to telling residents “to becareful on the consumption of fruits already sliced for re-sale by grocers, and herbal concoction prepared under poor hygienic conditions.
“Person or persons suspected to have contacted cholera should be rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment without delays”, the statement said. Adding that “on no account should home treatment be used as an option”.
“This second statement also signed by the Council Secretary warned that: “Whoever handles or has any form of contact with cholera patient should properly wash their hands with soap and detergents. Where these are not available, ashes should be used to wash the hands thoroughly.”
When contacted on this development, the Commissioner for Health Dr. Mustapha Jibrin, said he was aware of the outbreak, saying that a team of five doctors had been sent to the area to contain further casualties.