Meningitis: Zamfara Patients Buy Own Drugs, Sleep On Ground
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 c