By Chioma Umeha
As the meningitis scourge continue to claim more
lives in Zamfara, many patients are left to cater for themselves despite
government spending to contain the epidemic in the state.
According to reports, many patients use their
money to buy drugs even though the State Government had since declared that the
treatment and cost of drugs were free.
Drugs like Dexarose, Ceftariazole and other
consumables like plasters, which were purchased in large quantity following the
release of more than N100 million by the state government, were still being
bought by the patients at nearby patent medicine stores.
Some patients told journalists that hospital
officials gave them the list of the same drugs and directed them to specific
chemists where they could get them.
Relatives of the patients who went to buy the
drugs told journalists that “Sometimes, we are stopped by the chemists within
the hospital premises and they give us the required drugs and when we come
back, the attendants will collect back the paper.”
However, Gov. Abdulaziz Yari, had expressed
disappointment over the plight of patients during unscheduled visits to the
emergency camps set up for Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) patients on Sunday
and Monday.
The governor particularly noted with
dissatisfaction that the environment of the camps were unkempt as the patients
were lying on bare sand, while drips being administered were hung on sticks.
He directed the five-member Meningitis Control
Committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the State Government, Prof.
Abdullahi Shinkafi, to explain the situation.
According to media reports, the governor decried
the performance of the committee at all the centres he visited.
