Cholera orphan cries out for help
By Abolaji Adebayo
The eldest child of the couple who reportedly died of cholera in Isolo recently, 14-year-old Uche Balogun, has cried out to the government and philanthropists to come to his aid to bring up for his three brothers.
Mr. Isiaka Balogun was said to have died barely 24 hours after the death of his wife, Mrs. Chibuzor Balogun who was confirmed by medical officers to have been battling with cholera before her death.
When contacted at their residence, No. 2, Raji Aliu Street, Off Airport Road, Ajao Estate, Uche told ECHONEWS that it was confirmed at the hospital that his parents died of cholera.
He said his mother who was a little above 30 years, had been complaining of general weakness of the body for some days and the family thought that it was a minor health issue.
He explained that she started excreting watery faeces and vomiting when they realised it could be a serious heath matter.
Uche narrated that his father, Isiaka Balogun who was known as Gaddafi, rushed his mother to a clinic where she was placed on certain medication and was later discharged.
He said when they got back home, her condition worsened, noting that before they could get a vehicle to convey her to hospital, she died.
The teenager stated: “She told me that she was vomiting in the morning after I left for school. When I returned from school in the afternoon, I met her in bed; she looked pale. She told me that she had been excreting loosely and vomiting. I asked my dad to take her to hospital. And when he took her to hospital, they gave her injection and he brought her back home.
“She was still experiencing pains as was going to the toilet and vomiting after returning from the hospital. I had to get her 7Up and added some salt to it and gave her to drink to see if it could give her strength since the doctor said it was cholera.
“My dad had to take her to the same hospital but they rejected her. We had to rush her to the General Hospital, Isolo, and when we got there, the doctor examined her and told us that she couldn’t make it. One of our family friends and I had to return home, leaving my father behind.”
Uche added that in the afternoon, he received a call concerning his father’s health and he and some of relatives and friends quickly went to the hospital.
He said they tried to ensure that Isiaka was admitted to the general hospital but he was rejected by doctors and nurses there.
As a result, they moved him to the Jericho Hospital in Mafoluku, where he was admitted.
Uche added: “He was on the second drip when I noticed that the drip had stopped and he began to breathe heavily.
“Out of apprehension, I called the doctor, who pushed me out of the room and asked me to stay outside.
“Due to their delay in coming out, I went inside to check what had happened. When I asked the doctor again if my dad was breathing, he told me that he couldn’t make it.
“Now we don’t have a mother and a father. We are four boys – the youngest is two, while I am 14. How am I going to take care of these ones?
“This house, which was my grandfather’s house, had been sold. I learnt that my father used part of the money he realised from the sale of this place to build a house at the tollgate area. I don’t know the area. I only know that he did not complete the house; only one part of it has been roofed as I was told.”
However, some residents of the estate are worried by the cholera outbreak.
Some of the residents who spoke to ECHONEWS appealed to the government to come to the aid of the people urgently before death from cholera would spread and become an emergency matter.
ECHONEWS observed that the compound where the deceased were living was poorly sanitised as the house with 14 rooms and shops has only two pit toilets.
One of the tenants, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that they had between now and December to remain in the house as it had been sold.
The Medical Officer of Heath (MOH), Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Dr. Baqiah Yesufu said the outbreak of cholera was due to unhygienic environment in which the deceased were living.
According to Dr. Yesufu, there was outbreak of cholera in four local government areas (Lagos Island, Surulere, Mushin and Ajeromi) before it was detected in Oshodi-Isolo last week, warning the residents against unhygienic environment.
“We need to create awareness on proper hand washing, food hygiene (food must be well covered), ensure proper disposal of waste and faeces.
“Any case of vomiting and diarrhea should immediately be reported to the nearest health facility,” she warned.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has activated an Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) to deal with the recent excess cases of gastroenteritis that was experienced and reported in some Local Government Areas of the State.
The EOC is a command and control centre headquartered in the Ministry of Health that will coordinate and fine tune logistics in response to the increase in numbers of diarrhea and vomiting (Gastroenteritis) recorded in the past weeks in five Local Government Areas of Lagos State.
The EOC which is chaired by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi is made up of officials of the State Government from the Ministry of Health, Primary Healthcare Board, Health Service Commission, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), as well as representatives of World Health Organization (WHO), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Central Public Health Laboratory, State Biobank amongst others.
According to the commissioner, the EOC would be meeting on a daily basis, collating results, reviewing plans as well as interventions and suggesting and coordinating the implementation of measures to effectively curtail the situation and handle future occurrences promptly and effectively.
“We are going to have complete narratives of what happened during the last weeks on lessons learnt and how we are going to move forward,” he said while officially activating the EOC.
He noted that through the EOC, the state government would put some measures and specific action plans in place over time on how to respond to any waterborne or airborne outbreaks that may happen in Lagos in a very more efficacious way.
The EOC is made up of sub thematic areas of Surveillance & Laboratory; Communication Health Education/Social mobilization; Case Management & Infection prevention/control; Logistics and Data management.
