The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has urged the state government to declare a state of emergency on hepatitis and other deadly diseases following the death of 28 persons in the Doma Local Government Area of the state.

Speaker of the House,  Danladi Jatau, gave the appeal under a matter of public importance brought by Musa Ibrahim (NNPP- Doma South)  on the death of the people in his constituency due to hepatitis during the house’ proceedings on Monday in Lafia.

Mr Jatau said if the government declared a state of emergency on hepatitis, it would go a long way in curtailing the spread of diseases, thereby improving the health status of the people of the state.

He appreciated Mr Ibrahim and other members for their contributions to the matter.

The speaker sympathised with the people of Doma South and their families over the loss of their loved ones and prayed to God to grant the deceased eternal rest.

He said, “We have two resolutions to the effect, that Governor Abdullahi Sule is hereby advised to ask the Ministry of Health to move their experts to the affected communities.Second, the state government should declare a state of emergency on hepatitis and other deadly diseases in the state.’’

The speaker directed the clerk of the house to communicate the resolutions to the governor for his further necessary action.

In their contributions, Muhammad Oyanki,  Daniel Ogazi, Dr Ibrahim Peter Akwe, Solomon Akwashiki and Larry Ven-Bawa, all said that government should give attention to the elimination of hepatitis and other deadly diseases.

They also said that special attention should be given to the treatment of hepatitis in particular.

Earlier, Mr Ibrahim, who sponsored the motion, said 28 people of his constituency died of hepatitis from October 2023 to date.

“Hepatitis is killing my people and something needs to be done to curtail it. I beg that the government should tackle this problem urgently; we should come up with strong resolutions to address this issue,” he said.

(NAN)