By CHARLES IWUOHA

Chief Ezenta Ezeani, lawmaker representing Igbo-Etiti East State Constituency in Enugu State, has commended the state Ministry of Health for quick intervention in the yellow fever breakout in Ekwegbe community in the state.

“Quick intervention of Enugu govt through the state Ministry of Health stopped my constituents in Ekwegbe community in Igbo-Etiti council area from fleeing in their numbers,” Ezeani told newsmen in Enugu on Tuesday.

The lawmaker spoke on the gradual return of normalcy and ongoing mass vaccination of people within Ekwegbe and its adjoining communities against yellow fever.

“In the past few weeks, Ekwegbe community in Igbo-Etiti has recorded quite some deaths occasioned by uniform symptoms of headache, body pains, high fever, and vomiting, sometimes the last symptom was vomiting of blood, then death.

“These symptoms were observed to lasted for10 days before death with no history of ill-health of these deceased persons.

“The Ekwegbe dwellers saw the slow but silent killer as a mystery which some have advised a strong Christian religious crusade in the community.

“The most recent cases, which instilled great fear, were that of two deaths which happened within three days with the last one, who having moved to Parklane Teaching Hospital before giving up, was assessed by the Parklane’s health workers.

“There, a doctor mentioned ‘a case of Yellow fever’. Though they tried to resuscitate him, it was already late, he gave up,” he said.

The lawmaker said that he was tinkering on what to do with the findings of the Parklane’s health workers as at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 13; when he was overwhelmed with calls and social media write-ups from his constituents on the frightening dimension of the illness in Ekwegbe.

Ezenta noted that he started making frantic calls to concerned authorities that night; adding that Dr Ifeanyi Agujiobi, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and Chairperson of Igbo-Etiti, Mrs Nkechi Ugwu-Oju, had mobilised on ground all state health expert and officials of WHO, UNICEF, NCDC, Red Cross at about 10 a.m. on Nov. 14.

The lawmaker appreciated Agujiobi for his efficiency and responsiveness to the illness, which Ekwegbe community residents perceived to be mysterious.

Ezeani noted that Agujiobi in the course of his job and passion for humanity, had to lose sleep two nights ago “just to save lives”.

The lawmaker commended Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for pragmatic disease control and rapid response initiatives, strategies and structures put in place in the state, adding: “These efforts are second to none”.

According to him, yellow fever is real. Please let all join hands to fight it. No one knows the next experience or victim.

In a related development, there was presentation of IV infusion, drip giving sets and cannulars donated by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Dr Ifeanyi Agujiobi, to the Head of Department of Health in Nsukka and Igbo-Etiti council area.

The donation made on Monday, Nov. 16, was meant to be distributed to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in affected communities with yellow fever in Igbo-Etiti and Nsukka council.