BEVERLY HILLS, October 10, (THEWILL) – The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, over the outbreak of Monkey Pox in the country.
The House took the decision in Abuja,on Tuesday, just as the National Centre for Disease Control confirmed that 31 cases of the disease had been recorded already in the country.
THEWILL recalls that the National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, had disclosed that Monkeypox had spread to seven states which are: Bayelsa, Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, River and Lagos.
At its plenary, presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, Hon Diri Douye, a lawmaker from Bayelsa State, raised the issue under matters of urgent national importance, praying that the Minister should be summoned which was immediately passed in a unanimous voice vote.
The House was alarmed that the disease was spreading while it appeared that the Federal Ministry of Health was helpless without relying on the World Health Organisation.
Lawmakers expressed concern that a country as big as Nigeria did not have a laboratory to respond to the health emergency and having to first send specimen to Dakar, Senegal, for investigations.
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