‘Outbreak not a sign of failure,’ Health Minister says

monjola sotubo

January 18, 2016 4:42 PM

Professor Adewole said further that some states were failing to reports cases of the disease because they considered it a sign of failure.

Lassa fever: FG warns against hoarding information, patients

Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has urged medical personnel around the country not to see the outbreak of Lassa fever as a failure.

The minister made the comments on Monday, January 18, 2016, during an interview on Channel TV’s Sunrise Daily.

“Some people will want to consider it as a sign of failure. I will tell you in Oyo State, we had a case of denial, (but) when I met the Governor (Abiola Ajimobi), he was angry that he would not want anybody to deny the existence of the case of Lassa fever in Oyo State but that we should forward to him, a proposal for active case fight and prevention across the state,” Adewole said.

“I think at professional level, people must just admit that an outbreak should not be considered as a fault in the system but as something to be reported and actively to be presented.

“We have also dispatched drugs to the state and we are reactivating all our treatment and diagnostic centres in a bid to ensure that we are able to make diagnosis promptly.

“We are also sending teams all over the states to ensure that we uncover cases that hitherto, were not reported. What we will activate will be community surveillance, where we have a functional community surveillance, we will get to know right from the community level.

“We also want to appreciate Lagos State that has activated the entire spectrum of prevention and control activities ranging from alert, adequate detection as well as treatment,” he added.

The disease has so far claimed about 40 lives in 10 states.

monjola sotubo