In what seems to be a state of confusion, the Kano State government has lambasted the Minister of Health and Presidential Task Force (PTF) over the number of people claimed to have died mysteriously in the State last April.
A combined team of experts from the Kano State Ministry of Health and development partners has released a report which showed that among the deaths recorded in the State, only 15.9 per cent died of diseases related to COVID-19 pandemic.
Few days ago, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehenire, at the PTF press briefing, disclosed that between 50-60 per cent of the total deaths were triggered by COVID-19.
“With regard to unexplained deaths in Kano which occurred in April, the team confirmed from graveyard records, that a total of 979 deaths were recorded in 8 municipal LGA in the state at a rate of 43 deaths per day, with a peak in the second week of April.
“By the beginning of May, the death rate had reduced to the 11 deaths per day it used to be. The verbal autopsy revealed that about 56% of deaths had occurred at home while 38% were in a hospital.
“With circumstantial evidence as all to go by, investigation suggests that between 50-60% of the deaths may have been triggered by or due to COVID-19, in the face of preexisting ailments. Most fatalities were over 65 years of age,” the Minister said at the briefing.
However, while presenting the Mortality Review (Verbal Autopsy) findings by the team, the Lead Consultant, Muktar Gadanya, a Professor of Infectious Diseases from Bayero University Kano (BUK), countered the figure presented by the Minister of Health.
According to the Lead, the team of researchers discovered that about 1,774 deaths were recorded, but that the researchers traced the relatives of about 1,604 of the deceased which represented over 90 per cent of the total figure.
Prof. Gadanya reiterated that out of 1604 cases traced, only 255 cases of deaths were linked to COVID-19 pandemic, representing 15.9 per cent.
He said that the remaining deaths could be attributed to hypertension, diabetes, malaria and other ailments, including self-medication by victims who could not approach the hospitals for the fear of being identified as COVID-19 patients.
Commenting on the report, the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, described the report by the Ministerial Taskforce Team as misleading.
While addressing the team of researchers commissioned by the state, Ganduje said: “These mysterious deaths also occurred in many other parts of northern Nigeria. There is no doubt this presentation of a well-researched issue has put to rest the hypothesis, the postulations, the speculations, the predictions, the anticipations; and even the ill-wishes of our detractors pertaining to this mysterious deaths.
“I do congratulate the team of our experts and I am happy when I read the literature review of previous occurrences in other parts of the world world in similar incidences.
“One should be convinced that this is a well researched and a well assembled and concluded report giving a result of 15.9 per cent of the mysterious deaths that occurred in Kano are attributed to COVID-19.
“This is the report the Technical Committee appointed by Kano state government as earlier promised and we have seen this report and the presentation has convinced professionals and laymen.
“The report by the Technical Committee from the Federal Ministry of Health indicating that 60 per cent of the mysterious deaths in Kano was related to COVID-19, I think all they indicated certainly lacked correlation.
“In fact, their data cannot pass the test of time, reliability and validity. Once such findings could not pass validity and reliability, you can as well, throw away that investigation into an ocean, signifying nothing, reporting nothing and misleading almost everybody.
“This investigation shows us that, yes, even though there was no practical examination in our laboratories, but applications, inferences from traceable sources, involving both primary and secondary data, I think there is no better way of conducting this research.
“So, I do congratulate this team and this report will be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of Health, the chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, the National Coordinator on COVID-19 and most importantly, it is now made to the members of the public.”
