– Many patients are left to cater for themselves despite government spending to contain the spread of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in Zamfara state
– Some patients said that hospital officials gave them the list of the same drug and directed them to specific chemists where they could get them.
– Governor Abdulaziz Yari, had expressed disappointment over the plight of patients as he paid unscheduled visits to no fewer than 500 victims currently receiving treatment at various hospitals in the state
Many patients in Zamfara are left to cater for themselves despite the state government’s spending to contain the epidemic.
As the meningitis scourge continue to claim more victims in Zamfara, many patients are left to cater for themselves despite government spending to contain the epidemic in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many patients use their money to buy treatment even though the State Government had since declared it free.
Drugs like Dexarose, Ceftariazole and other consumables like plasters, which were purchased in large quantity following the release of more than N100 million by the state government, were still being bought by the patients at nearby patent stores.
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Some patients told journalists that hospital officials gave them the list and directed them to specific chemists where they could get them.
Relatives of the patients who went to buy the vaccine told NAN that “Sometimes, we are stopped by the chemists within the hospital premises and they give us the required treatment and when we come back, the attendants will collect back the paper.”
However, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, had expressed disappointment over the plight of patients during unscheduled visits to the emergency camps set up for Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) patients on Sunday and Monday.
Yari paid unscheduled visits to no fewer than 500 victims of meningitis currently receiving treatment at various hospitals in the state.
The governor particularly noted with dissatisfaction that the environment of the camps were unkempt as the patients were lying on bare sand, while drips being administered were hung on sticks.
The governor was accompanied on the visits by members of the state’s Meningitis Control Committee headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi, and other top government officials.
He directed the five-member Meningitis Control Committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the State Government, Shinkafi, to explain the situation.
NAN reports that the governor decried the performance of the committee at all the centres he visited.
The governor interacted with individual patients, sympathised with their conditions and encouraged them during the visit to no less than 10 hospitals across the state.
Yari said the state government had made adequate provision for their treatment and assured them that his administration would continue to handle such emergency cases free of charge.
The governor, who , said he was sad with the way many of the patients were lying on only mats spread on sand ordered immediate supply of mattresses to all the centres.
He said anyone caught selling vaccine meant for the treatment of the patients would have himself to blame.
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He said that the chairman of the committee should be briefing him regularly on its activities, especially.
Yari said this was also exposing the patients to other diseases.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the patients were receiving treatments in camps located in Gusau, Kaura-Namoda, Shinkafi, Moriki and Talata-Mafara hospitals and others.
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