BY OLA AJAYI
IBADAN-OYO State Government Wednesday said the total number of suspected cholera cases so far reported was 947 with 11 dead, saying Oyo North Senatorial District had the largest number of victims.
This came as the immediate past governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala accused the government of negligence over the cholera epidemic ravaging the state for about six weeks.
Commissioner for Information, Mr. Bosun Oladele and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lateef Olopoeniyan, who made the clarification, explained that to curtail the spread the government fumigated all the affected areas and sent intravenous fluid to affected persons.
The commissioner for health said, “”Available data to the State Ministry of Health indicated that there are only 947 cases of suspected cholera that reported between June and September 2011 throughout the state. Out of this number, 67 per cent of the cases were from Oyo North Senatorial district, 27.7 per cent from Oyo South and 5.49 per cent from Oyo Central.”
Giving breakdown of the victims, he said the epidemic was more severe in Saki West where 359 cases were reported, 280 in all 11 local government areas in Ibadan land, 252 in Irepo and Ibarapa North 17 cases.
According to him, government had taken about four measures to ensure that the epidemic did not wreck further havoc, saying the steps include containment, case management, prevention and support system.
Meantime, former governor Akala speaking through his spokesperson, Prince Dotun Oyelade accused the government of negligence.
In a statement he said the flood disaster merely compounded the epidemic and he asked the government to concentrate on this emerging health hazard instead of dissipating energy on its cover-up.
The former governor said institutions including the University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH) voiced out their concern, saying “government is glossing over the issue.”
He alleged that that Ajimobi’s much-touted Free Health Mission was meaningless “when thousands of our people have fallen victims with many unrecorded deaths while government pretends it is nothing unusual. Let the Governor publicly encourage cholera victims to report to designated hospitals for free care today and he will be shocked that he has another crisis in his hands. The UCH, Ibadan, Adeoyo, Ring Road etc are awash with desperate cholera patients, let the government put in place an emergency plan instead of looking the other way”.
IBADAN-OYO State Government Wednesday said the total number of suspected cholera cases so far reported was 947 with 11 dead, saying Oyo North Senatorial District had the largest number of victims.
This came as the immediate past governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala accused the government of negligence over the cholera epidemic ravaging the state for about six weeks.
Commissioner for Information, Mr. Bosun Oladele and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lateef Olopoeniyan, who made the clarification, explained that to curtail the spread the government fumigated all the affected areas and sent intravenous fluid to affected persons.
The commissioner for health said, “”Available data to the State Ministry of Health indicated that there are only 947 cases of suspected cholera that reported between June and September 2011 throughout the state. Out of this number, 67 per cent of the cases were from Oyo North Senatorial district, 27.7 per cent from Oyo South and 5.49 per cent from Oyo Central.”
Giving breakdown of the victims, he said the epidemic was more severe in Saki West where 359 cases were reported, 280 in all 11 local government areas in Ibadan land, 252 in Irepo and Ibarapa North 17 cases.
According to him, government had taken about four measures to ensure that the epidemic did not wreck further havoc, saying the steps include containment, case management, prevention and support system.
Meantime, former governor Akala speaking through his spokesperson, Prince Dotun Oyelade accused the government of negligence.
In a statement he said the flood disaster merely compounded the epidemic and he asked the government to concentrate on this emerging health hazard instead of dissipating energy on its cover-up.
The former governor said institutions including the University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH) voiced out their concern, saying “government is glossing over the issue.”
He alleged that that Ajimobi’s much-touted Free Health Mission was meaningless “when thousands of our people have fallen victims with many unrecorded deaths while government pretends it is nothing unusual. Let the Governor publicly encourage cholera victims to report to designated hospitals for free care today and he will be shocked that he has another crisis in his hands. The UCH, Ibadan, Adeoyo, Ring Road etc are awash with desperate cholera patients, let the government put in place an emergency plan instead of looking the other way”.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/cholera-11-dead-out-of-947-cases-oyo-govt/
Govt should speed up its emergency and rescue relief so as to forestall the recurrence by setting up a health review committee. Though this is not enough for a former govt spoken-person to poke nose into the affairs of the state, at least several incidents of cholera happened during its era and i wonder why it was unable to do to help the victims then.
ReplyDeleteThe recent collapse of the bridges are indications of its total neglect and lack of regard to the lives of its people.
THANK YOU