The Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has expressed concerned over the rising cases of sickle cell anemia in the State, discussing it as a health concern, that needs urgent action.
He explained that even though efforts had been made to create awareness on how to reduce the spread of the disease, the State government would still collaborate with the sickle cell consortium, to embark on massive public enlightenment campaigns.
Gawuna stated that with the creation of new Emirate councils, the State government would design a programme with the help of sickle cell consortium, where a team of professionals would go round to meet with people in the communities, to enlighten them on its preventive measures.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Dr. Zubaida Farouk Ladan, disclosed that out of the six million persons living with the disease in Nigeria, 400,000 of them are from Kano.
Dr. Zubaida maintained that Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital alone has 17,000 sickle cell patients that have registered. He added, ‘‘if you combine Murtala Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Nassarawa and Hasiya Bayero Hospitals, it is estimated that about 31,000 sickle cell patients have registered, to show how the problem is in Kano’’, he added.
N. A. Hassan (Mrs.),
Head of Center,
Kano.
