MONKEY POX: Reps Summoned Minister Of Health

The House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, over the outbreak of Monkey Pox in the country.

The House took the decision in Abuja just as the National Centre for Disease Control confirmed that 31 cases of the disease had been recorded already.

The National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, had disclosed that Monkeypox had spread to seven states.

The states are Bayelsa , Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, River and Lagos.

At its plenary in Abuja presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, 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.

A lawmaker from Bayelsa State, Mr. Diri Douye, raised the issue under matters of urgent national importance, praying that the minister should be summoned.

The prayer was immediately passed in a unanimous voice vote.

Lawmakers expressed concern that a country as big as Nigeria did not have a laboratory to respond to the health emergency without first sending specimen to Dakar, Senegal, for investigations.

They were also in shock that Adewole admitted that Nigeria was helpless.

"The House is concerned by the shocking admission of Adewole that Monkeypox could not be confirmed in Nigeria until laboratory investigations by the WHO and referral to Dakar, Senegal.”