Lassa Fever: Ebonyi NMA Demands Emergency in Health Sector
The Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Ebonyi State chapter, Dr. Austin Ikwudinma, has declared that no fewer than 40 health workers in various medical institutions in the state have died of Lassa fever infection in the last 13 years.
Ikwudinma made the declaration in Abakaliki, the state capital, on Tuesday, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of an emergency general meeting of the association which deliberated on the recent death of two doctors and a nurse from Lassa fever.
The association urged the Federal Government to declare an emergency in the health sector, to stem the spread of Lassa fever in the country.
Ikwudinma stated, “The federal and state governments should not play politics with this and urgently rise to the occasion of securing the lives of inhabitants of Ebonyi State and the entire South-East region.“The epidemic killed two medical doctors in less than one week of developing symptoms; a nurse who has been on Rivavirin still deteriorated and died.”
“This makes this issue a national security issue and calls for an emergency state in the health sector in the country.”
The MMA boss regretted that the virology centre, built by the Ebonyi State Government and handed over to the Federal Government on September 5, 2016, had not been equipped.
“The Federal Government should make the virology centre in Abakaliki a national referral centre by making it functional.
“Patients are still referred to the Irrua Specialist Hospital, Edo State, for definitive diagnosis and treatment. Patients’ treatment at the virology centre is based on presumptive diagnosis using markers that are not specific nor sensitive to Lassa virus,” he added.
Following the death of their colleagues from Lassa infection, no fewer than 500 doctors and other health workers in Ebonyi State staged a protest on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the protesting doctors, Dr. Oliver Mbam, said the protest was one of the resolutions taken at the meeting of the state chapter of the NMA on Monday.
Mbam said, “We urge the Federal Government to fulfil its promise to the state government by equipping the National Virology Centre built by the Ebonyi State Government and handed over to the Federal Government to enable it to function at an optimal level.”
The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘Make virology centre functional’, ‘Save Ebonyi from Lassa fever’, ‘Save our souls from Lassa fever’, ‘Make virology centre functional’, among others.
By: Clement Nnachi, Abakaliki
The Punch News
