Diphtheria: Red Cross donates medical consumables in Kano state

The Nigerian Red Cross Society, Kano State branch, in collaboration with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society IFRC, on Wednesday donated medical consumables to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to curtail spread of diphtheria.

The Executive Secretary of the Society in Kano State, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, presented the items at the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) in the hospital.

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Medecins Sans Frontieres is an organisation managing diphtheria cases at the Abdullahi Ease Teaching Hospital in Kano state.

The medical consumables consists of 1,000 pieces of disposable aprons, 60 packs of face mask and 230 face shields.

According to Abdullahi, “it is important to make the donation for smooth operation without any hitches.

“Our volunteers are also going from house to house to sensitise the general public to how they can improve their health status.

“Vaccines are also provided for children between ages four to 14 and even adults,” he said.

The Project Coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres, Dr. Ishaq Yusuf, thanked the Nigerian Red Cross for the kind gesture

He said the MSF would continue to collaborate with the State Ministry of Health on different capacity to curb cases of diphtheria outbreak.

“Regarding diphtheria outbreak, we have treated over 3,000 cases within the state.

“We have two centres where diphtheria cases are managed; one is at Muhammed Murtala Specialist Hospital while the other one is at Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH),” he said.