Kogi Commissioner, Dr. Saka Audu Give Reasons that Make Him Shed Tears

EXCERPT OF THE INTERVIEW OF KOGI STATE COMMISSIONER FOR HEALTH, DR. SAKA HARUNA AUDU WITH NEW TELEGRAPH:

“I only pray that in the long run I would have been the only one to shed tears over the issue.

I wept because of that poor man from Ibaji Local Government Area (LGA) who was on routine drugs for onchocerciasis, who may irreversibly lose his sight to river blindness due to inevitable interruption of Ivermectin medication.

I wept because of that tuberculosis patient in Ankpa LGA, whose anti-mycobacterial drugs will be discontinued.

I wept because of that poor pregnant woman from Okene LGA whom we have been supporting with free Antenatal drugs, who will no longer have access to this.

I wept because of that child in Yagba East LGA who will no longer receive routine immunisation because of the dastard act of vandals and hoodlums.

I wept because of the peasant farmers who have been depending on our health intervention that will now be exposed to increased infant and maternal mortality across the state.

I wept because I feared the extent of damage was beyond what the state had the capacity to respond to in the required short period of time to fix.

I wept because of the damage done to our health sector which we had been painstakingly nurturing for the past five years.

It was therefore more or less a cry for help being faced by a precarious situation. All the energy, time and effort put in place to revamp the Kogi State health hector took a great hit from that unfortunate incident, and if these don’t touch the heart of anyone who means well for the state, I wonder what will”.

-Dr Saka Haruna Audu,
HCH,
KOGI STATE.