Strange disease: Benue to assess boarding school before reopening
The Benue State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Joseph Ngbea, on Wednesday said that the state government would need to carry out an environmental assessment of the school that was shut down as a result of the outbreak of a strange illness before it could be reopened.
The Vaatia College, a private secondary school located on George Akume Road, Makurdi, was on Monday shut down by the government after five students were rushed to hospital as a result of the strange illness.
The commissioner had on Monday described the illness as the Orepa syndrome, which made the affected students to experience paresis.
Giving an update on the situation on Wednesday, Ngbea said that in as much as there was no record of new cases, a team from the state Ministry of Environment would be dispatched to the school for inspection before the government could think of the reopening.
The commissioner allayed the fear of people of the state about the outbreak of the disease.
He stated, “There is no new case; let us look at today (Wednesday) when we review the case; we will send a team from the Ministry of Environment to look at the school, look at the water source and the toilet facilities.
“It is after all these that we will take a decision on when to reopen the school.”
The commissioner added that the proprietor of the school was at the time of filing this report holding meeting with stakeholders and medical doctors treating the patients.
Credit: Punch
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