Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has doused the tension currently being experienced by the citizens following the confirmation of eight suspected cases of Cholera out of the 16 references, saying that the government will do all in its powers to curtail its spread.
It assured that it was on top of the situation with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) staff in the state, all those affected were under close monitoring including all those they have come in contact with.
The government also disclosed that 226 cases of Lassa fever out of over 2,300 suspected ones have been recorded and that out of the 226, 36 deaths have been recorded so far this year.
The Director Public Health, Ministry of Health, Dr. Ojeifo Stephenson, gave the update and said the state government was prepared for any emergency.
Surrounded by officials of the WHO led by its State Coordinator, Dr. Eyo Nora, Dr. Ojiefoh said “Nobody should panic, the state is doing everything to address the situation of any disease outbreak in the state because if you want to talk of any state that is prepared to respond to emergency, Edo State is one, Edo is ready for any outbreak and it is ready to address them as they come
“On Thursday last week, we got an alert that there are some suspected cases of Cholera seen and on admission at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, we quickly mobilized our men in collaboration with the WHO team to go and investigate and see the condition of the patients and know what exactly to do as quickly as possible.
“Sixteen patients were admitted at the UBTH. We ran an RDT (Rapid Diagnostic Test) for all of them. RDT is not a confirmatory test positive while eight were not reactive the other eight were positive to it. Then the next line is for us to collect sample from those eight that were reactive to the rapid diagnosis test, and that sample was sent to the National Reference Lab in Abuja for confirmatory test, until that result comes out from there and say it is positive, we won’t say that we have any positive cholera case in Edo state.
“The good news is that from Thursday till now, all the patients have been discharged in UBTH except one still in the ward.”
Dr. Ojiefoh announced that the surveillance system has been activated for contact tracing and line listing and identified all those that the patients have had contact with and also carried out community enlightenment to know what they took before the incidents, adding “We are happy about that but we urge the public to continue to maintain hygiene and clean environment and once you have a suspected case, go to the hospital immediately.”
On Lassa fever, he said the state government was mobilizing to eradicate the causative rats to ensure Edo State is Lassa fever free.