Via allAfrica.com, a Vanguard report: Nigeria: Meningitis, Cholera Kill Three in Anambra Rehabilitation Centre.
Awka — Three inmates of the Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled, Old and Tramps, RECDOT, in Ozubulu, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, have died following an outbreak of meningitis and cholera at the centre.
Director of the home, Mrs. Rosemary Odunkwe, told newsmen yesterday, that the two diseases had continued to threaten the lives of the 101 inmates.
According to her, "the lives of inmates are in serious danger unless adequate medical attention is given to them."
She said since the establishment of the centre in 1986, it had not received adequate attention, lamenting that it was being run through occasional help from good spirited individuals and groups.
Odunkwe said that apart from the current epidemics outbreak, some of the inmates were suffering diseases such as cerebral palsy, asthma and other deadly diseases that needed immediate medical attention.
She attributed the outbreak of the diseases at the home to lack of adequate accommodation, noting that the inmates were presently jam-packed in tiny rooms pending the completion of building projects dotted at the home, one of which was initiated by the immediate past senator that represented Anambra South Senatorial District, Chief Ikechukwu Obiorah.
She explained that planning for the welfare of the inmates was worsened because some people secretly brought physically challenged persons and dropped them at the home's gate.
