By Muhammad Nasir Bello
Sokoto – The Sokoto State Government, on Thursday, restated its total commitment to curbing the outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, made this assertion when members of the State House of Assembly Committee on Health, visited the Murtala Muhammad Hospital in Sokoto.
Kakale said that the State Government had released funds to procure consumables and drugs in order to ensure that those infected are saved.
He said that the efforts being made by the government to nip the epidemic on the bud was already yielding positive results.
“We have a number of patients in this centre but in other facilities in the Local Governments, the cases are few.
“As such, it cannot be used as a yardstick for the state of the disease in Sokoto, as the centre was chosen to be the referral centre in the state.
“So, I still insist and maintain that, the disease is under control in the state,’’ the commissioner said.
He said that the government had initiated a powerful public enlightenment campaign and community sensitisation, which resulted in the large turnout of patients at the Murtala Mohammed Hospital in Sokoto.
Kakale lauded the lawmakers for their support to the ministry in controlling the outbreak of the disease.
The committee’s chairman, Alhaji Arzika Sarki (APC- Sokoto North II), also lauded the State Government’s efforts in curbing the disease.
Sarki said that from what was seen, the State Government, through the Ministry of Health, was doing everything possible to save the lives of those infected.
“So, we at the State House of Assembly are very much impressed with the steps so far taken by the State Government in tackling the epidemic,” he added.
Sarki also advised the public to maintain a clean environment and ensure that they stay in well ventilated rooms.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the disease has claimed no fewer than 328 lives in 16 states of the federation in the last four months.
Fourteen states are severely affected in the North with two states in the South.
No fewer than 41 lives have been confirmed lost to the epidemic in Sokoto between November 2016 and March 31, 2017.
