\”Cholera Outbreak; Director General of the CRSPHCDA Records More Positive Results As Death Toll Drastically Reduced.\”
By Ntem Chris.
The state has for a couple of Months now been battling with the cholera outbreak in cross river hit the people of Ikom, Etung, Abi, Obubra LGAs amongst others has so far been tackled by the leadership of the health sector as the Director General of the Agency, Deaconess Mrs Abasioffiong Offiong has been in the field for over three weeks now seeing and attending to major cases herself.
The good news so far from the state epidemiologist office is that the death toll has been drastically reduced courtesy of the speedy intervention from the state government and other partners as well as NGOs. Speaking to the press during her last visit to Ikom and Etung LGA, the DG Mrs Abasioffiong stated that they was no reason for her to be in her office while people are losing their lives, so she decided to be in the field herself to get a first hand information and render her own support.
\”We\’ve been on this situation for months now and the good news is that we\’ve tackled the outbreak with all our energy and resources. The support of our health pro governor Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade and his dear wife Dr Linda Ayade has been helpful, we wouldn\’t have recorded this outstanding success without them, our partners as well as other NGOs and individual support has made the fight lighter for us. I really will want to use this medium to thank all the parties involved in this fight especially my health workers who have worked round the clock to help achieve this result.
The mortality rate from our records as confirmed from the state epidemiologist office has clearly shown that there\’s a reduction in the number of deaths and this mean our effort is paying off. I\’ve been in the field myself with my team for a couple of weeks now as am not that kind of a leader who leads from the back by sitting in the office and passing out instructions. Am a field worker and I\’ll continue to be in the field until this is completely over.\”
The DG called on the good people of cross river state to ensure that they practice good hygiene, ensure a regular hand washing habit, drink from a good and portable source, cover properly all cooked foods, discard every refuse bin in a proper manner, visit the nearest health care facility should any symptoms occur rather than indulging in self medication, etc. She called for calm and more support stating that the health sector is in control of the outbreak as such there\’s no cause for alarm.
Sensitization exercises, creation of awareness, training of health workers on cholera outbreak in Cross River for the prevention and treatment as well as donation of medical commodities to health facilities across the state to help cushion the outbreak.