The Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH) Katsina says its children’s ward is overwhelmed by an influx of suspected and confirmed diphtheria cases, while the number of infections and deaths from the disease in Katsina State remains unclear. The hospital said on Saturday that patients were being referred from health facilities across the state, resulting in severe overcrowding and pressure on available bed spaces.
It did not disclose the number of children currently on admission, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases or deaths recorded so far. PREMIUM TIMES reported on Saturday that the federal government had activated an emergency multi-agency task force involving the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the affected state governments and development partners.
The task force was directed to strengthen outbreak investigation and surveillance, intensify immunisation and expand access to treatment. The federal government said the NPHCDA had deployed 500,000 vaccine doses to Katsina and Kano states for intensified immunisation in affected and at-risk communities. It did not specify how many of the doses were allocated to Katsina.
FTH Katsina, which serves as a major referral facility for Katsina and some neighbouring states, said the increasing number of patients had placed its paediatric services under considerable pressure. “The hospital is making every possible arrangement to accommodate and manage the increasing number of patients, even in the absence of sufficient bed spaces,” the hospital said in its statement.
It said healthcare workers were continuing to attend to critically ill children despite the pressure on the ward. The hospital also called for stronger collaboration among health institutions, government agencies and other stakeholders involved in the response.