Yellow fever: CMD assures Edo people of safety

THE Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Prof. Darlington Obaseki,  has assured of the determination of the hospital to adequately tackle the outbreak of yellow fever in Edo state.

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Obaseki, who spoke in Benin at the staff award/end of year party, disclosed that the hospital was able to tackle the recent outbreak of the dreaded disease with the provision of vaccines free-of- charge and the deployment of community health personnel to curtail the ailment in several affected communities in the state.

The Medical Director,  who applauded the prompt response of the hospital management team over the way it brought the yellow fever outbreak under control, saying further that he was happy over the commitment of the personnel to ensuring safety of lives.

Professor  Obaseki  said that the outbreak was   managed effectively particularly with the deployment of community health personnel to the worst hit communities in the state.

He said: “In UBTH, we have  provided treatment for about 20-30 patients that were brought in from communities mostly affected by the yellow fever outbreak in the state. The hospital also opened isolation ward where yellow fever patients were attended to.

“Also UBTH started the vaccination in the state. We provided the vaccination free of charge to our staff and members of the public.Our community Health/Medicine Department joined with support from the Edo State government and World Health Organisation(WHO)  who sent workforce to the epicentre in  villages worst hit by the outbreak to help curtail the spread of the yellow fever disease.”

Obaseki added that the vaccination was  a continuous exercise, noting that the vaccine,  which was available mighthowever, attract a token as the period for free vaccination had elapsed.