Gombe State Govt advises residents to avoid monkey-pox prone areas

The Gombe State Government has advised residents to avoid places with reported cases of monkey pox.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Kennedy Ishaya, gave the advice in Gombe on Tuesday while briefing journalists on the state’s level of preparedness against the disease.
“Since monkey pox is a viral infection, I am appealing to the general public to avoid places with the reported case,” Ishaya said.
He also urged residents in the state to report any constituted signs such as fever, headache and common cold to health facilities and avoid self-medication.
According to him, since the outbreak of the disease in some parts of the country, the Ministry of Health had set up machinery in place.
The commissioner said that such contingency was always provided for in the state’s annual budget and N2 million had been released to the state Emergency Response Team.
He said that one of the measures taken was to designate a place at the state specialist hospital to serve as an isolation ward in case of any outbreak.
He added that drugs and antiseptics had been procured for treatment of those infected in case of any reported case in the state.
Ishaya said that the state government had also launched a sensitisation campaign through the media, religious and opinion leaders to educate the people about the disease.