Leadership (Abuja)
Mahmoud Muhammad
3 January 2009
Sokoto — Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko has approved N3.6 million for the purchase of assorted drugs and buffer stock . The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Alhaji Umaru Attahiru who disclosed this yesterday in Sokoto added that the drugs would be kept in the central stores of the ministry.
The drugs, Attahiru said, were meant for emergency response to the outbreak of diseases such as measles , gastro-enteritis and cerebro spinal meningitis which kept recurring despite a sustained effort by the government to eradicate it.
"They are meant to take care of all the vulnerable groups like women, children and even adults in such emergency situations ," he explained .
According to him, the Federal government had also donated 20,000 CSM vaccines which would soon be conveyed to Sokoto from Abuja .
Attahiru also stated that the state government was searching for a genuine source to purchase additional CSM vaccines to complement those donated by the federal government .
"The state government will, in the next two weeks, conduct a special immunisation exercise against CSM in the 23 local governments of the state" the permanent secretary, explained.
He disclosed that the training of personnel to conduct the exercise would be held in the state capital in the next few days .
"We will encourage local governments to set up similar buffer stock to complement the efforts of the state government . This is very important, both during and after some unforeseen emergencies like epidemics ," Attahiru said.
He stated further that the action was being taken to control the spread of diseases between this January and March.
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