A block of the Gombe State Ministry of Health’s medical stores was razed by an early morning fire on Monday, resulting into a loss of the medical equipment, consumables, drugs and injections.
According to the Gombe Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, the fire started at about 2am.
“The staff on duty quickly informed officials in charge of the stores, who equally alerted firemen for emergency response, but before the firemen could reach the stores, the inferno had done major damage on the store, resulting into the collapse of the eastern wall of the block,” Dahiru said.
The commissioner said investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire and the level of damage.
He added that despite the huge destruction of drugs meant for the forthcoming March immunisation against child killer diseases, the state government would not relent in its effort to ensure the success of the exercise.
Dahiru disclosed that the ministry would immediately reach out to the Federal Government, donor agencies and organisations to bridge the gap created by the inferno.
He added, “The cost implication is about N5bn. If you see the naira exchange rate now, you can imagine how much is one dollar of polio MOPV for that matter, that is the most potent polio vaccine. It is very costly if you covert it from dollar to naira. The same as the equipment too.
This is just a rough estimate, as a committee has been instituted to take an inventory and itemise them. It is not only that, I have also instructed the fire service department to give us a report on the immediate cause of the incident and what measures to prevent further occurrence.”
Also speaking, Operations Officer, Gombe State Fire Service, Umar Faruk, said they received a distress call eight minutes past three in the morning, and immediately mobilised their men to the scene.
He said the firemen successfully contained the fire from further spreading to other blocks.
While suspecting electrical surge for the inferno, the fire officer said, “The service will soon brief the press upon completion of investigation.”
He charged the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to train their staff on how best to use fire extinguishers in case of emergencies.
