…reacts to alleged abandonment by Edo state
By Hassan Zaggi
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire has refutes the allegation is that he has abandoned his home state of Edo after being hit by Lassa Fever.
Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, yesterday, the Minister said that the health sector is a joint responsibility of both the states, local governments the local communities.
He described as laughable the alleged abandonment of Edo state, explaining that all that was the needed to be done by the federal government was done to assist the Edo and other states hit by disease outbreak.
“The first thing is to monitor the outbreak of diseases in Nigeria and at the moment we are dealing with Diphtheria, lassa, cholera, meningitis and measles and so on which we are dealing with all over the country.
“The health sector is a joint responsibility of the state, federal government, the local government and we also sometimes involve the communities in implementing our programmes.
“But as to address a particular ailment, it is a joint responsibility of the federal and state government.
“However, have we done our due diligence as a ministry, yes. Every medicine use in the treatment of lassa fever anywhere in the country is provided by the Federal Ministry of Health including the test reagents and test kits. That is our responsibility.
“Over the weekend, I was questioning the Director General of the NCDC and he assured that he has supplied everything Edo and any other state needs to have.
“As we speak, Edo is not the only state that has lassa fever. At the moment, they have bigger incidents than Ondo, but by last year, Ondo state has by far more and it is a joint responsibility. “Edo state is very lucky that they have the best virus hospital in the whole of this country, that is in Irua.”
The Minister, therefore, said that: “Where is the complaint and abandonment coming from. We have the best hospital, you have all the medication and all the treatment that you need, where is the abandonment. I don’t see it. I asked NCDC, they also said they don’t see it. It is a joint responsibility.”
Dr. Ehanire further explained that: “I also want to say again that the CMD of Irua was in my office to answer some questions. He assured me that there was no even one occasion that they refused to treat anybody whether the person has money or not. He almost sworn by the Bible that they have never rejected anybody with lassa fever.
“So, where is the abandonment. Ondo state has not complaint, Bauchi state are busy taking care of their own problems. So, I intend to engage the governor of Edo state and the Commissioner of Health to explain to us what else they want us to us to do that we have not done. There is a lot of sensation around that. Edo state is saying they have been abandoned and the Minister is from there.”
The Minister, therefore assured that “every disease in this country has been given full attention by this ministry and nothing is left that is our duty to do.
“We also expect all states to see it as a shared responsibility where they too have their role to play in managing the social fallout.
“Everybody that appeared in our hospitals have been treated. Nobody has been turned back because he did not have money.”
