Govt Cautions On Drug Vendors’ Patronage

The Rivers State
Government has warned against relying on roadside medicine sellers in the treatment of malaria.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tamunoiyoriari Parker, gave this warning at the Grande Finale of this year’s World Malaria Day celebration, at the Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology, Rumueme, Port Harcourt.
Parker who was represented by the Director of Public Health, in the Ministry of Health, Dr Nnanna Onyekwere, warned that the remedy by medicine dealers who do “Mix for Me”, would only bring temporary relief in the symptoms adding that the parasites would  later become resistant and make treatment of malaria difficult.
He charged the people to buy into government’s preventive and elimination strategy against diseases by correctly utilising the free long lasting insecticidal nets provided by the government, “so that the war against malaria would be won”.
Dr Onyekwere, who also spoke shortly after the programme; noted that non-utilisation of medical facilities and consumables was the bane of a successful fight against malaria.
He said, in terms of infrastructure and  materials, the state government has done well, but the biggest problem we have observed is utilisation of unhygienic practices”.
He urged the people to keep their environment clean to eliminate mosquitoes breeding sites.
In their speeches, the programme manager, Malaria Control Programme, Dr Roselyn Apuah-Dulu and representative of Partner Agencies, Dr Oluseye Babatunde, who spoke on this year’s theme; Invest In The Future: Defeat Malaria, stated that one of the ways to defeat malaria was to always test before treating.
Earlier, the chairman of the occasion, and Chairman State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Dr Uriel Etawo said all hands must be on deck if the malaria scourge must be defeated.

Tonye Nria-Dappa