Governor Yari visits over 500 patients in Zamfara hospitals

Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State on Monday paid unscheduled visits to no fewer than 500 victims of meningitis currently receiving treatment at various hospitals in the state.

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.

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 drugs meant for the treatment of the patients would have himself to blame.

He said that the chairman of the committee should be briefing him regularly on its activities, especially, on why some patients had to be buying drugs or sleeping on the ground.

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.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there had been an outbreak of the diseases in neighbouring states that claimed several lives.