One die of cholera in Bulahawa as situation worsens

One person has died after a cholera outbreak in Bulahawa town which lies 510 km south of Mogadishu .

Some 30 other patients suffering from cholera have been admitted at Bulahawa hospital.

Health officer,  Abubakar Abdullahi termed the situation in the town as critical.

“The situation is quite chaotic and critical as we are receiving patients in the final stages of the disease making it difficult to manage,” said Mr Abdullahi.

He said all the patients at the temporary cholera treatment centre were in a critical stage.

“We are actually facing a massive outbreak in Bula town going by the number of patients we are receiving hourly,” he added.

He said the outbreak affected the town and its environs.

“We need to have concerted efforts by all stakeholders to control the situation that is threatening to get out of hand,” he said.

He could not give an exact number of victims of cholera saying the health team was still consulting the health department to know how many are infected.

Emergency team leader Ahmed Omar said the centre has registered over 15 patients within 24 hours.

“We took over the cholera situation at Bulahawa Hospital on Thursday and up to now we have recorded over 15 patients,” he said.

He said most of the patients were brought in while in shock and in the late stage of the disease making it difficult for the team to handle.

Mr Omar said Chikungunya outbreak worsened the cholera situation as some patients suffered from both diseases.

The treatment centre has received little support from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) despite the arrival of surveillance team from other parts of the region, according to Omar.