Cholera outbreak has claimed 20 lives in Delta State, while 150 others are also down with the disease, which residents blamed on the lack of potable water in the affected communities.
The disease is said to be more prevalent in Bomadi and Burutu local government areas of the state where their major sources of drinking water are the Forcardo rivers, wells and ponds.
The outbreak of the disease has sparked off calls on the Delta State government to prevent more deaths by completing a multi-million naira water scheme already started in the affected areas but now abandoned.
Businessday gathered that several persons, especially children have been affected by the water-borne disease, as the riverine communities are faced with challenge of poor quality water.
Sources in the area said that residents became anxious about the growing number of people with symptoms similar to cholera as more people began to visit public hospitals and health centres in the locality.
Read Also: FG allocates N55.1bn for basic healthcare provision, approves N6.45bn for oxygen plants
Relevant government authorities were said to have expressed concern over the cholera outbreak, which is coming on the heels of yellow fever outbreak in some communities in the state even as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to threaten lives.
Though a source in the state’s ministry of health said the deaths arising from the Cholera outbreak was below 20, reliable sources in the affected areas affirmed that only about seven persons of the 150 cases of cholera recorded on January 16, 2021, died.
The health ministry source, however, said that collation of new cases and necessary analysis of samples collected from the patients was ongoing.
According to the report, Tuomo, Tamigbe and Gberegolor communities in Bomadi local government area are the most hit, as several persons are receiving medical attention.
A team of officials from the state ministry of health and Primary Healthcare Development Agency have, however, moved in and are working hard to bring the situation under control.
The residents of the communities lamented that due to the lack of potable water in the area, the people were left with no choice but to drink from the filthy water sources from the Forcados river and local ponds or wells available to them, which are polluted including through open defecation.
“Here in Bomadi, we drink from this river (Focados) because that is the only source of water. Anyone can see how dirty the river is. Some persons also rely on their shallow wells or ponds. This is clearly the cause of this cholera,”said Charles Ebiye, a Bomadi resident.
He further lamented that the state government was yet to put into use the multi-million naira water scheme it constructed in the area several years after.
Reacting, however, Ononye Mordi, the state commissioner for health, attributed the cholera outbreak to poor hygiene among the residents, including drinking water with high iron content and polluted by poor sanitary habits.
