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Tag: Balarabe Kakale

  • Tambuwal incorporates religious groups to support fight against polio

    Tambuwal incorporates religious groups to support fight against polio

    Gov. Aminu Tambuwal has incorporated the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as part of the Task Force to support the fight against polio in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this came to the fore on Sunday, in Bodinga town, Bodinga Local Government Area of the state at the commencement of the immunisation plus days.

    Speaking at the event, the governor announced the formation of an expanded high powered task force, made up of leadership of JNI and CAN.

    He said that the committee will ensure the massive mobilisation of all persons resident in the state, towards the success of the exercise.

    He said,”my administration is committed in ensuring that the successes recorded in the fight against polio and other killer-diseases are not reversed.”

    Tambuwal further called on stakeholders not to relent until the country was free from the dreaded polio virus.

    Tambuwal said,” the Sokoto State Government has committed huge sums of money for the renovation of hospitals, construction of staff houses, as well as provision of basic medical equipment to Primary Healthcare Centres.

    “This is to enable them provide qualitative primary and secondary health care services to the people.

    “We will also continue to renovate our health facilities and construct some additional primary health centers for equitable distribution of facilities in all areas where there are none.”

    Tambuwal also directed all the 23 local government areas to provide all needed support towards the success of the exercise.

    The governor also inaugurated the task force on polio immunisation and implementation in all the 23 LGAs with each council chairman serving as head.

    In his remarks, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, represented by the Magajin Rafin Sokoto, Alhaji Rilwanu Bello, called on all district heads to be fully involved in the immunisation drive.

    In their separate remarks, representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, Rotary International and national primary Healthcare Development Agency, reiterated their determination to ensure that Nigeria is free from the wild polio virus (WPV).

    On his part, the state commissioner of health, Dr. Balarabe Kakale called on all communities to take precautionary measures on the impending risk of Gastro enteritis, especially as the raining season is about to set in.

    He also appealed to people to maintain personal and environmental hygiene, adding that the ministry will continue to discharge its duties effectively.

    Other members of the task force announced by the governor include development partners, women groups, heads of security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, labour leaders, political officers, student groups, members of the civil societies, among others.

  • Sokoto records first rain as meningitis kills 53

    Residents of Sokoto city and its environs on Tuesday night recorded the first rain in 2017, heaving a sigh of relief.

    A total of 53 persons were officially confirmed to have died from meningitis, which was induced by the intense heat recorded in the last two months across the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the rain started at midnight and lasted for about one hour, bringing the temperature to below 30 degrees centigrade.

    NAN also reports that the residents heaved a sigh of relief from the high temperature ranging from 35 degree centigrade to 42 degree centigrade.

    The rain was preceded by heavy windstorm that uprooted trees and destroyed building roofs.

    The high temperature had hitherto caused many residents to become dehydrated, leading to increased intake of cold drinks.

    A cross section of the residents interviewed expressed happiness and thanked God for the rain.

    “It has brought succour to us from the intense heat of the past few weeks,’’ a resident, who pleaded anonymity told NAN.

    Before the rainfall, many residents had resorted to sleeping at the frontage of their houses at nigh to prevent heat-related diseases like meningitis and measles among others.

    NAN recalls that Sokoto State was one of the states, worst hit by meningitis in the past few months.

    The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, recently said the state had recorded 41 meningitis-related deaths.

    The Chairmen of Shagari and Gudu Local Governments, Alhaji Jabbi Shagari and Alhaji Ahmed Maidamma later confirmed additional ten and two more deaths in their respective areas.

    The state government had since begun mass vaccination of the people against meningitis.

    Government targets to immunise two million people against the epidemic across the 23 local government areas of the state.

     

  • Sokoto to immunize citizens against meningitis – Commissioner

    Sokoto State Government says plans have reached an advanced stage to immunize two million people against Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) across the 23 local government areas of the state.

     

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto on Friday.

     

    He said that the exercise would cover mostly persons between the ages of one to 30 years.

     

    “We have already received 20,000 doses of the type C strain of CSM from the Federal Government, out of the initial request of 800,000 doses we made.

     

    “We are expecting more consignments of the vaccines and we will soon commence the statewide vaccination.’’

     

    Kakale stated that the World Health Organisation (WHO) would train the vaccinators to ensure the exercise was error-free.

     

    “WHO provided the vaccines to the Federal Government, while the Federal Government distributed them to the states, including Sokoto State.

     

    “The organisation will therefore train the vaccinators for them to conduct the exercise in line with the risk assessment tools,’’ he said.

     

    The commissioner, however, noted that the meningitis epidemic had been brought under control across the state.

     

    Kakale further said that a referral centre had been established by the state government at the Murtala General Hospital, Sokoto.

     

    According to him, the centre is being manned jointly by medical personnel deployed by the state government and Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF).

     

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MSF is an international Non Governmnetal Organisation (NGO), made up of Doctors without Border complementing the efforts of the state government in the medical sector.

    “ The state government has provided adequate drugs at the centre for the free treatment of patients.’’

     

    Kakale had a week ago put the death toll of deaths from CSM in the state at 41.

     

  • Sokoto restates commitment to curbing of meningitis

    The Sokoto State Government on Thursday restated its total commitment to curbing the outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in the state.

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, made this assertion when members of the State House of Assembly Committee on Health, visited the Murtala Muhammad Hospital in Sokoto.

    Kakale said that the State Government had released funds to procure consumables and drugs in order to ensure that those infected are saved.

    He said that the efforts being made by the government to nip the epidemic on the bud was already yielding positive results.

    “We have a number of patients in this centre but in other facilities in the Local Governments, the cases are few.

    “As such, it cannot be used as a yardstick for the state of the disease in Sokoto, as the centre was chosen to be the referral centre in the state.

    “So, I still insist and maintain that, the disease is under control in the state,’’ the commissioner said.

    He said that the government had initiated a powerful public enlightenment campaign and community sensitisation, which resulted in the large turnout of patients at the Murtala Mohammed Hospital in Sokoto.

    Kakale lauded the lawmakers for their support to the ministry in controlling the outbreak of the disease.

    The committee’s chairman, Alhaji Arzika Sarki (APC- Sokoto North II), also lauded the State Government’s efforts in curbing the disease.

    Sarki said that from what was seen, the State Government, through the Ministry of Health, was doing everything possible to save the lives of those infected.

    “So, we at the State House of Assembly are very much impressed with the steps so far taken by the State Government in tackling the epidemic,” he added.

    Sarki also advised the public to maintain a clean environment and ensure that they stay in well ventilated rooms.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the disease has claimed no fewer than 328 lives in 16 states of the federation in the last four months.

    Fourteen states are severely affected in the North with two states in the South.

    No fewer than 41 lives have been confirmed lost to the epidemic in Sokoto between November 2016 and March 31, 2017.

     

  • Meningitis: Death toll rises to 23 in Sokoto – Commissioner

    The death toll as a result of the meningitis epidemic in Sokoto State has now risen to 23, the News Agency of Nigeria( NAN) reports.

    The State Health Commissioner, Dr Balarabe Kakale, confirmed the meningitis-related deaths on Monday in Dange town, headquarters of Dange/Shuni Local Government of the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria( NAN) reports that Kakale disclosed in continuation of the ongoing sensitization campaigns across the state.

    Kakale gave an update on the state of high alert declared on the health sector by the Ministry since on March 20.

    He stated that the deaths were recorded in the seven worst hit local governments areas  of Kebbe, Bodinga, Rabah, Wamakko, Gada, Dange/Shuni and Tureta.

    Kakale said: “the state government had since on March 20, deployed no fewer than 15 medical teams, comprising more than 150 medical personnel.

    “They were deployed across the 23 local governments of the state, fully equipped with ambulances and provided with  drugs, as well as medicament.

    “The emergency response teams are conducting house to house cases search, definition and management, both at home and the hospitals.

    “They have so far treated no fewer than 400 mixed cases of severe malaria and meningitis across the seven top-hit local governments.

    “Out of the 400 cases, 56 were confirmed in the laboratories to be cases of meningitis, out of which additional fatalities were recorded.”

    Kakale further noted that thousands of other cases were treated at the Primary Health Centres in the state.

    The commissioner further disclosed that the state government was contemplating closing some public and private schools, if the problem persisted

    “We are hereby again intimating the people of the state that the cases of meningitis should not be linked to witchcraft or sorcery.

    “Rather, all suspected cases should be reported to the hospitals as the state government had stocked adequate drugs and medicament for the free treatment of the patients.”

    Also speaking, the Chairman of Dange/Shuni local government, Alhaji Mode Dan-Tasallah, commended the sate government for swiftly swinging into action to control the epidemic.

    “In our own case we have also purchased additional drugs as well as deployed more health personnel and logistics, to complement the efforts of the state government,” he added.

  • Sokoto hospital conducts three knee replacement surgeries

    The Sokoto State owned Orthopedic Hospital, Wamakko, has successfully conducted three total knee replacement surgeries, the first in the history of the state, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Nuradeen  Altine told newsmen in Wamakko on Monday that the surgeries were conducted on two male adults, aged 60 and 65.

    Altine said: “Two knees were replaced in both legs of one patient, while one knee was replaced in another patient.

    ”The successful surgeries were conducted on March 25 by a team of Surgeons from the hospital and their colleagues from the Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, Kano.

    ”The surgery is capital intensive because it involves the use of sophisticated equipment and titanium metal which is very expensive and had to be imported.

    ” We hope the Sokoto State Government will continue to support the hospital with equipment, logistics, to have more of such operations.”

    Commenting on the feat,the State Health Commissioner, Dr Balarabe Kakale, said that patients can now save a lot of money for knee and other bone treatments.

    “The three operations were each conducted at about One Million Naira.

    “The patients would have spent nearly N10 million on each knee replacement surgery in India, Germany or other parts of the world.

    “Patients would no longer need to travel abroad for such operations and this would drastically reduce medical tourism.

    “The state government would continue to support the three-year old hospital to conduct such highly subsidized surgeries and other routine activities, ” Kakale said.

    NAN reports that total knee replacement surgery is done on patient if one or both knees are damaged due to frequent use, resulting in Osteoarthritis, a disease of the joint, due to aging.

    The disease causes a lot of pains on patients and often prevents one from walking.

  • Hospital conducts vagina reconstruction surgeries in Sokoto

    The Maryam Abacha Children and Women Hospital, Sokoto has successfully conducted advanced vagina reconstruction surgeries on three women with Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF).

    Vaginal reconstruction is the creation of a new or artificial vagina after surgery to remove part or the entire vagina; it is also used as a treatment for vaginal cancer.

    Dr Balarabe Kakale, Sokoto state Commissioner for Health, disclosed this in Gusau at a three-day workshop organized by a USAID-assisted Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) Project implemented in Sokoto and Bauchi States.

    The workshop with the theme ”2016 Sokoto State Budget Performance Review and Public Hearing on 2017 Budget Workshop” was a platform for the review of the ministry’s nearly N6 billion 2016 budget.

    Represented by Alhaji Mohammed Ladan, a Director in the ministry, Kakale said the hospital also conducted 162 VVF surgeries.

    Kakale added, ‘‘Over two million children were immunized in the state while the process of transforming Primary Health Care under one roof in the state has reached over ninety per cent”.

    He said other achievements recorded in the health sector included the reactivation of quarterly free plastic surgeries at the Noma Hospital, Sokoto by foreign surgeons.

    The commissioner disclosed that the state government provided a N100 million take off grant for the Contributory Health Scheme while more than three million people were provided free malaria drugs.

    “Health staff were recruited and posted across the state to shore up the provision of efficient healthcare services to the people.

    “Several other construction and renovation projects as well as provision of hospital equipment, drugs and medicament were executed in 2016.

    “This was not, however, without challenges like recession, delay in releases of funds, poor internal revenue generation and multiple taxation of private health facilities.”