Funeral Prayers For Many As Kano Death Toll Mounts
While the Kano State government continues to deny the mysterious deaths being recorded within the state capital, residents of the city are living in fear as more and more burials are taken place daily.
After KEVID NEWS reported that over 150 people were buried in three cemeteries within the capital last weekend, the state government denied the report.
However, residents are still apprehensive over the unprecedented death rates. Some residents who spoke Daily Trust Saturday said though there was a little respite, Janaza prayers are still being conducted for multiples who are thought to have died from severe malaria and typhoid fever. Within Zangon Barebari neighbourhood alone, our correspondent gathered that about 15 people died between Wednesday and Friday.
Similarly, an attendant at Dandolo Cemetery told KEVID NEWS Saturday in confidence that the number of deaths in Kano is still increasing, adding that “between Wednesday and Thursday we have buried about 67 corpses.” Some bereaved families told KEVID NEWS Saturday that their relatives were on outpatient visitations to hospitals for various ailments but with the lockdown in force, coupled with the scare for coronavirus at private health facilities, the deceased had some disruptions that kept them from accessing medical care, which might have resulted in their deaths.
Daily Trust Saturday gathered that in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the state, the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital AKTH, the largest tertiary health facility in the state, and many public hospitals, suspended services at its specialty clinics and restricted the number of outpatient visitation to the facility thereby leaving hundreds of patients without medical care. Mustapha Muhammad Zakari, a resident of Gwammaja Quarters in Dala Local Government Area, lost his mother who had been battling diabetes for over a year. He said his mother died in between hospitals after being rejected at Dala Orthopaedic Hospital.
“For over a year, my mother had been battling diabetes and she used to access care at a private hospital. But with the current reality on ground, the COVID-19, coupled with the lockdown in force, the hospital is not operating, as a result when her condition deteriorated last week we took her to Dala Hospital but she was rejected there and on our way to locate another hospital she died,” he said.
Malam Aminu Ibrahim, a bereaved who spoke to our correspondent, said his father was diagnosed with malaria and typhoid fever before he died at a private clinic at Yankaba.
Aminu, like Muhammad, said his father was rejected at Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital before he was moved to the private clinic.
“My father died from severe malaria and typhoid fever. It was a brief fever and when it started, we took him to a private laboratory within the neighbourhood where they took his blood samples and diagnosed him with malaria and typhoid,” he said.
“After he had been diagnosed, we took him to Nassarawa Hospital but he could not be admitted on the pretext that there was no doctor. From there we moved to a private clinic at Yankaba where he eventually died the following day.”
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