Enugu Govt. scale up free malaria testing, treatment in over 500 health facilities

By, Venica Uchechukwu Enugu 

The Enugu State  Government has scaled up free malaria testing and treatment in no fewer than 527 health facilities within the state.

The Commissioner for Health, George Ugwu, told newsmen in Enugu that the facilities are both public and private health facilities in the state.

Ugwu said that the facilities are located in every nook and crannies of the state covering all the 17 LGAs .

He noted that facilities offering the free testing and treatment of malaria included: Primary Healthcare Centres, General and Cottage hospitals as well as some selected private and public tertiary hospitals.

According to him, the state government wants to drastically reduce the prevalence and incidences of malaria among residents of the state.

“The ongoing statewide Enugu State Ministry of Health Malaria Elimination Project, which was envisioned and embarked upon by Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, is meant to touch lives and strengthen the health of residents.

“The state government, with support from its health partners, has made available free malaria test consumables and drugs to many health facilities including public and private hospitals in the state.

“The residents should avail themselves of this health gesture by visiting health facilities close to them and play their role in helping in eliminating malaria and its health and financial burden out of the state,” he said.

The commissioner advised doctors and health workers to always do a malaria test before its treatment as “not all fever is malaria”. 

“Carrying out a malaria test in the first place to be sure if what is being treated is malaria is very essential since there exist other forms of fever,” he said.

It would be recalled that the project had been running for over a year and being scaled up by the state government recently.

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The  impactful project had reduced the prevalence of malaria in the state to 9.9 per cent according to a recent four-year gap malaria survey data.