From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
WORRIED by increased cases of criminal activities and diseases’ outbreak in Kaduna State, the state governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, over the weekend said the state is working to establish its own Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) forensic centre to tackle the issues headlong.
When established, the centre will help the state and the country at large to have genetic history of diseases and to track criminal elements in any part of the country.
The governor said this while declaring open a 2-day 1st national workshop for Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) nurses, organised by National Association of Otorhinolaryngological Nurse Practitioners of Nigeria (NAORLNP), held at National Warfare Centre, Kaduna.
El-Rufai, who stated this through the state Commissioner of Health, Professor Andrew Jonathan Nok, added that its high time the state started looking inward to what caused collapse in the society, hence, the intention of the state government to have the centre.
According to him, “we are just interested in trying to find out genetic basis not just diseases, but identification of fellows, may be that have to do with crime and criminology. And then, we need to go a step farther with regard to finding out diseases because it is not possible to be able to understand the basis of such diseases without genetic details.
He further added that, “we have a committee that has really gone far in making extensive context locally and outside. And we have a team of experts drawing the next plan of action to realise this noble course.”
The guest speaker and immediate past Medical Director of National Ear care Centre, Kaduna, Professor Mohammed Babagana Ahmed, however, advocated additional ear care centres across the six geo-pilitical zones in order to bring the healthcare service closer to the people.
The pioneer professor of ENT in Northern Nigeria further suggested that even if it means doing it bit-by-bit, the country needs more of such centres due to rapid increase in its population, citing instances where patients have to be referred from Ibadan, Enugu, Benin among others.
Earlier in an address, National President of NAORLNP, Mr. Murtala Aliyu Sakwa, appealed to members of the association to work in unity so they can achieve outstanding success collectively.