LASSA FEVER: FG BLAMES STATES OVER SILENCE

The Federal Government on Today  gave a hard knock on states for the outbreak of Lassa fever in the country.

The government which blamed the spread of the disease on “the conspiracy of silence” among states of the federation, also expressed fears that a yet-to-be-identified disease might have surfaced in the country.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made these observations in Abuja during the emergency council meeting on Lassa fever outbreak in the country,

According to him, many states in the country had “refused to speak on the Lassa fever disease because it had not been reported in their states.”

He stressed that a few states only responded to the disease after it had been reported in their states.

Although Adewole did not mention the states, he identified Ebonyi State as one of those that “did not inform the Federal Government days after it had recorded a case of the disease.”

The Minister also told the council of a patient referred from Ebonyi State to Irrua Hospital in Edo State for treatment who he said “absconded with his relative.”

He directed that the patient should be traced and located .

He expressed surprise that many people in the country had refused to believe that the epidemic was real.