By Asma’u Ahmad
Following the death of two health officers of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Abeokuta, the state government said it had taken steps to create an Isolation Centre to cater for cases of Lassa fever.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, said this while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital.
Newsmen report that the Lassa fever had on Monday, claimed the lives of an Assistant Chief Nursing Officer and a Mortuary Attendant.
Dr. Babatunde Ipaye
The commissioner said the ministry in collaboration with the FMC, would quickly set up an Isolation Centre at the premises to attend to emergencies of such.
He urged nurses to always attend to all patients in the most hygienically acceptable manner.
Dr. Ipaye said the state government had always been proactive on issues relating to public health, adding that it had never recorded any case of Lassa Fever “except for the two cases imported to from Ebonyi and Kogi, who later died at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) few months ago.”
He allayed the fear of members of staff of the hospital, saying it did not call for unnecessary panic.
“We are going to immediately create an Isolation Centre here at FMC to cater for unexpected cases and emergency on public health issues like Lassa fever to include other communicable diseases.
“We have also set officers out to confirm the root cause of the cases,” the commissioner said.
Dr. Ipaye said a continuous sensitisation “is ongoing on the need for the public to keep maintaining high sense of medical and personal hygiene. We need to get rid of rats in and around the house and ensure all food stuffs are well covered at all times and constant hand washing,” he said.
