Meningitis patients sleep on floor in Zamfara clinics

Children are the worst hit in the outbreak of
meningitis in Zamfara State as hospitals and health
care centres in the state struggle to keep up with the
rising number of cases .
In the centres our correspondent visited on Saturday
in the state capital , Gusau , several meningitis
patients, especially children , lay on bare floors
outside the premises of hospital wards , which have
run out of bed -spaces.
Several health workers told

SUNDAY PUNCH that the
primary health centres in the state were
overwhelmed due to the outbreak , noting that cases
have continued to rise owing to a combination of
factors , including the lack of bed spaces at the
centres and general hospitals , lack of facilities and
shortage of medical personnel to handle the outbreak
in the state .
At the Shehu Shagari Primary Health Care centre ,
visited by our correspondent, many children were
seen writhing in pain.
Health workers said they were overwhelmed by the
number of patients they had to treat daily.
At one of the hallways opposite the filled meningitis
ward , a number of children aged between 10 and 13
lay motionless , surrounded by their worried loved
ones who called out to hospital staff to attend to the
patients. About an hour later , one of the health
attendants came to administer treatment on two
children gasping for breath.
Our correspondent gathered that two children had
died the previous day , adding to the number of
deaths recorded in the hospital, which had only
three doctors to attend to the patients.
The doctor in charge of the hospital, Dr. Bashir Ali ,
was seen attending to different patients as he could
hardly stay in one ward .
“ I cannot speak to you on the issue without an
authorisation from the state ministry of health to do
so. The directive has to come from the director of
public health , ” Ali told SUNDAY PUNCH.
However , one of the health workers in the hospital
said the number of cases and deaths had risen in the
last three weeks .
At the Shehu Shagari Hospital, hundreds of children
were being given vaccination for the disease. One of
the nurses administering the vaccination said the
vaccines were donated by the World Health
Organisation only a few days ago .
Similarly, in the PHC in Kwanta, Gusau , there was
no bed -space for patients as some were seen in the
hallways outside the wards .
Our correspondent also gathered that, unlike Shehu
Shagari Hospital , the health centre had no vaccine
supplies .
The doctor at the centre explained that they did not
have enough bed -spaces and could not cope with the
number of patients.
The doctor noted that the lack of facilities and
laboratory at the centre meant they had to rely on
guesswork and symptoms to determine if the
patients were suffering from meningitis or not.
“ We are overwhelmed. As you can see, we don’ t have
any more bed -space. We are still awaiting the results
of the samples we sent to the ministry of health , ” he
said .
It was the same scenario at the PHC , Damba , in
Gusau .
Over 200 persons , mostly children , have been killed
by meningitis in the state .
When contacted , the Secretary to the State
Government , Prof . Abdullahi Shinkafi , who is also
the Chairman of the Committee on the Prevention
and Control of Meningitis in the state , told
SUNDAY
PUNCH that he could not give accurate figures on the
casualties immediately.
“ We will be having a technical review meeting later .
Please call me later, ” he said .