* 4 fresh cases reported in Minna, 23 in other LGAs on Thursday – UNICEF,
By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
The outbreak of cholera has claimed 13 lives while 200 people have been rushed to hospitals in Niger state as the disease spreads across six local government areas.
The state Commissioner of Primary Health Care, Dr. Ibrahim Dangana has confirmed the lost of 13 lives adding that about 240 persons hospitalised in six local government areas.
According to him, ” the state government has established treatment and isolation centre at old wing of late Senator Idris Ibrahim Kuta Primary Health Care centre along old airport road Minna to mitigate the spread and has embarked on aggressive sensitization exercises”.
While on monitoring inspection to Minna on Thursday, the UNICEF Chief of Kaduna Field Office, Dr. Gerida Birukila said although the treatment center has been running, the UNICEF wants to beef it up to meet up to the standard and demands of the cholera treatment.
She said, “UNICEF will be working in collaboration with the Niger state government and other organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure the spread of the disease is curbed. As of today (Thursday), most of those who have died are children and they are also more represented in the 297 suspected cases.”
She said “four new cases who have just been admitted here today in Minna, while in the local government areas there are 23 cases. However, some of them are positive while others are not”
.
Also, UNICEF Health Specialist with the Kaduna Field Office, Dr. Sule Mele said the case of cholera was identified two weeks ago in the metropolitan city of Minna which has Chanchaga and Bosso LGAs, which has now gradually spread to four other LGAs.
He explained that the UNICEF is doing all it can to curb the spread of the disease by carrying out sensitisation as a well as management and isolation of suspected cases for treatment.
He said, ” UNICEF has donated commodities and it is ready to set up cholera treatment units in all the other LGAs that there are suspected cases because we can not bring all the suspects here and we are going to preposition these commodities to these units”.
