Kano — At least 10 persons have lost their lives while 50 others were undergoing kidney-related treatments after consumption of suspected killer drinks in Kano.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, who confirmed the number of deaths while giving updates on the recent incident yesterday, said no fewer than 400 persons were on admissions at government hospitals.
The commissioner warned residents against consumption of juices during this period of Ramadan to avoid catastrophic consequences.
Tsanyawa explained that over 50 persons were currently undergoing kidney-related treatment in government hospitals.
The health commissioner said: “As you are aware, the Ministry of Health had in the recent past announced the outbreak of a strange disease traceable to the consumption of substandard juices.
“The consumption of this fake and substandard product has telling effects on the kidney, and other vital organs of the body.
“Due to excessive heat that coincides with Ramadan, there is a possibility for high patronage of juices; I want to use this opportunity to caution residents to be on the watch-out”.
Kano had over the past couple of weeks been battling with an outbreak of a strange disease that has further stretched the health challenges of the state.
The update by the Health commissioner came after a major breakthrough by the NAFDAC’s arrest of the suspects behind sale of the Kano killer drinks.
Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Hadiza Namadi said the update on the incident by the commissioner was meant to further warn residents against taking the killer drinks as traders were still selling the product to residents despite what had happened.
NAFDAC had last week explained that it found out that the chemical added to the killer flavoured drink that led to the death of three persons earlier in the state contained ‘Hyroxylamine,’ used for terrorism.
The regulatory agency disclosed that all the merchants of the deadly chemicals and additives had been apprehended while further investigations were ongoing.