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 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
emphasised 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.
