Tuesday, October 29, 2013

CHOLERA: Medical Experts Call For Return Of Sanitary Inspectors

 


Against a backdrop of the recent cholera outbreak, some medical experts have urged federal and local governments to reintroduce sanitary inspection to control further spread of cholera and other communicable diseases.
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Talking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Dr. Adewunmi Alayaki, a general physician at Isolo General Hospital, Lagos, stressed the need to strengthen the sanitary inspectors for proper monitoring of the environment, to prevent cholera.
"We know there are people saddled with the responsibility of sanitary inspection, not only in the north, but also in other parts of the country. This has to be revived. There is the need for border surveillance, monitoring and inspection of our environments for early detection of diseases’ outbreak," he stated.
In turn, Dr.Femi Afolabi, a dietician at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, said that more efforts should be made to educate food vendors on appropriate and hygienic ways of food preparation.
Afolabi advised the public to boil their drinking water and also wash their vegetables before consumption, to avoid contacting the disease. He also urged people to maintain clean and healthy environment to prevent cholera epidemic and outbreak of other communicable diseases.
In his comment, Dr. Femi Balogun, the Medical Director, Sheffi Private Hospital, Egbeda, Lagos, urged Lagos residents to provide standard toilet facilities in their respective homes for healthy living. He said that regular sensitisation and awareness campaigns to educate residents on good hygienic practices were being carried out by health personnel.
The death toll from the current cholera outbreak in some parts of Nigeria has been put at 74. According to the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, about 373 Nigerians have been affected.

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