Cholera kills Bauchi College student, 3 hospitalised

Paul Orude, Bauchi

There was panic  at the College  of Education,  Kangere,  Bauchi  State, on Wednesday, following an outbreak of cholera which killed  one student.

Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr. Zuwaira Hassan,  confirmed to Daily Sun in a telephone interview, on Thursday, that 19 cases of Cholera was recorded at the College, of which 15 students are well and have been discharged.

Hassan disclosed that three students  are currently on admission at the Cholera Treatment Centre in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, (ATBUTH), Bauchi, due  to the outbreak, while  one person- a 22 year  male- has died.

Public Relations Officer of the College, Bala  Baban Kawu, confirmed  the identity of the deceased in a telephone  interview with our correspondent.

Kawu said that the deceased, identified as Mohammed Dauda Shehu, from Toro Local Government  Area of the state, was a Diploma I student of Social Development of the College.

In a press release signed and issued by the PRO of the College , the Deputy Provost, Mr. Mugana  Yelmi, refuted  the report that the school had been closed down before  the official  end of the school  calendar.

The Deputy Provost stated that the students were only running  away due  to the panic  generated by news of the outbreak.

Yelmi said at the moment, students of Diploma Courses, Basic  and Certificate courses as well  as PRE-NCE are currently writing their examinations, while NCE I and II are expected to write  their  examinations April  19.

The Deputy Provost then appealed to the authority concerned to assist the College in taking responsibility of the affected students.

Meanwhile,  commissioner for health has disclosed that the ministry’s relevant officials  have educated the students and the school authority following  the cholera outbreak in the College.

Hassan said that environment sanitation was carried out in the school  while the toilets  which  were  full  were evacuated and the College’s source  of water chlorinated as parts  of measures to prevent and curtail  the spread  of the disease.