Due to claims and counter claims concerning the number of deaths caused by the re-emergence of Lassa fever and the affected states, the minister of health, Prof Isaac Adewole in an interview at the joint ministerial press briefing with the minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, states that for proper synergy and dissemination of information about the disease outbreak, only the federal ministry of health can make pronouncements. Kuni Tyessi was there for LEADERSHIP.
The Lassa fever symptoms is just like the Ebola disease which didn’t have a cure. Does Lassa fever have a cure?
We are hoping and working to see a situation. Where no one will die. Lassa fever has a cure. But for the cure to occur we really need to see the patients early enough and that is why we are calling for early presentation. We have provided ribavarin and have despatched it to affected areas and it is available, and that is why we are advocating that those who have been affected will treated free of charge.
Is there a disconnect between the federal ministry of health. And the state government in the dissemination of information because Oyo state happen to ne one of the affected states and the state government have come out to refute the claims. And does that mean there is no working synergy with the epidemiologists unit of those states with that of the federal government? If such exists, how can it be curtailed?
With respect to Oyo state, it is due to some disconnect and we have a confirmed case that has been confirmed by the university college hospital and it has been confirmed. I have the laboratory result. After treatment, this same individual had thesame test in Lagos and it was confirmed negative, and we are standing by the original result from the college hospital which confirmed that the individual was positive and he has since returned to Oyo state. I spoke with the chief epimiologist of Oyo state and I also spoke to the media adviser to his excellency, the governor of Oyo state concerning the true situation in Oyo state. So we are in control and I must state that it is only the federal ministry of health can make a pronouncement of Lassa fever in the country. So for us, we had a case in Oyo state and that case was treated and for me, it is a good story.
You have said that the disease has spread to 10 states. Have more states been affected or is it still the current number and affected states?
We informed the nation that 10 states were affected and as of today, only the 10 states are still affected. So it has not gone beyond thhe 10 states. You will realise that during my presentation, I announced that only 40 deaths were recorded. And shortly after that, there was a reported case of death in Plateau and since last friday, we have had only that number and have lost no one in the country in relation to Lassa fever. And because of more public awareness, we expect to have more reported cases.However, we had also had an increase in the number of suspected cases and we expect to have more reported suspicious cases but for claring our doubts, we can assure you that the number of confirmed cases should not increase because I can assure you that we have not confirmed any case in the last 72 hours. We have had two suspected cases in Rivers state which turned out to be negative and also two from Lagos which were also negative. So we are very comfortable with what is happening.
Has any foreigner been affected by the disease so far?
The current average so far has been restricted to rural areas and so it is likely in the rural communities and no foreigner has been affected. But to us, every human being, irrespective of your country of origin matters to us and the slogan of the present government is that every life counts and we can also say, every death counts. But as an administration and as a government, we are working towards ensuring that Lassa fever does not rear it’s ugly head again in this country.
There was a collaboration between the ministry of health and that of information during the Ebola outbreak. I would like to know specifically how much has been earmarked for Lassa fever in terms of prevention and treatment.
We are currently handling it with our own peanut resources by using drugs that we had in stock and we are trying to replenish our stock. We estimate that we have spent N56 million to replenish our stock of drugs and in other quick response, we are looking at a budget of about N40-N50 million. So everything is manageable within the budget of the federal ministry of health. But when we set up an inter-ministerial committee to ensure that we finally declare Lassa fever dearth, we will come up with a budget which I can assure you will be very realistic in line of reference with the current administration. We are not going to declare a bazaar and no one should expect to feast on it.
By: Kuni Tyessi
Leadership News
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LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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