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From Abel Leonard, Lafia
The Director General of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, Dr . Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa, has commended the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, over the role they played in trying to save the life of the woman who was the probable case of lassa fever even though both Doctors lost their lives after the surgery.
The NCDC boss gave the commendation on Wednesday through Dr. Muntari Hassan who is the team lead of the NCDC officials from Abuja who visited DASH to condole with DASH and to offer support to the State and the hospital in the fight against Lassa Fever and other pandemics that the state is prone to.
Dr. Muntari Hassan who expressed deep sympathy to the hospital and families of the doctors who lost their lives trying to save a woman, also recalled that similar incident had happened in Kano last year where some health personnel trying to also save a pregnant woman lost their lives.
Dr. Muntari said, “we are in the state to offer support in the area of surveillance, contact tracing, active case search within the community, risk communication through advocacy to traditional rulers, support of treatment facilities”, among others.
He Further said DASH has been highly commended for professionalism in the surgical intervention over the woman who was the probable Lassa fever case, which he said would have been the case any where in the world, and for stopping the spread after the loss of the two doctors, as no other positive case has been confirmed from the thirty nine samples taken and the over seventy contacts traced.
Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Ikrama Hassan appreciated the concern of the NCDC and their prompt intervention, but however expressed concern on the urgent need to enable the hospital have the capacity to test for Lassa fever at the Infection Disease Center situated within the hospital environment, adding that Nasarawa State is endemic to Lassa fever since the 80s.
He further explained that samples are taken to Abuja, which somehow still affect the turn around time but prompt turn around time of the results will help in the management of lassa fever cases and increase survival rate.
