Cholera: Niger gov’t deploys more medical personnel to Bida- as 15 died

From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

Following the outbreak of cholera in Bida town of Bida local government of Niger state, the state government has deployed more medical personnel to curtail the continued infection of the disease in the area.
However, at least no fewer than 15 people have been confirmed dead following the cholera outbreak in Bida town of Niger state, hence the deployment of more nurses and doctors to curb the situation according to reports.
Also, ten (10) other persons are in critical condition at the Umaru Sanda Memorial hospital in Bida out of the total of over sixty cases of the disease have been reported so far in the area.
Meanwhile, the officials of the Council have raised an alarm over the spread of the disease which they said must be urgently curtailed.
According to an official letter from the Bida Local Government Council signed by the Council Secretary, Suleiman Sheshi on behalf of the Chairman dated 18th June, 2018, and addressed to the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mustapha Jibrin, said the Council had no capacity to contain the outbreak.
The letter, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Minna called on the state government to urgently come to the rescue of the Council, stressing that as at the time of the outbreak (Sunday) “only one medical Doctor was on call at the hospital due to manpower shortage.
“The general hospital is lacking medical consumables and adequate facilities to cater for the present “emergent” health challenge.
The letter continued: “the present situation at hand cannot be handled by the Bida LGA alone, part of the reason why this letter is written is to request for superior intervention from the state government. Prompt action from your part will, without any doubt, save a lot of lives presently at critical point of survival”, the letter concluded.