The Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, says it is taking measures to ameliorate the plights of residents of Ruga community of Abuja which was struck by a strange illness three months ago.
Mohammed Mai, the Acting Secretary of FCT Health and Human Services, told newsmen on Thursday in Abuja that a team of medical personnel was dispatched to the area when the illness was first reported.
Mr Mai said also that since then there had been a follow-up to keep the situation under control.
He explained that the initial diagnosis of about 20 victims in the community showed some allergies, suspected to have been borne out of untidy environment.
According to him, the community lacks healthcare facilities and is an unplanned squatter settlement.
“When we visited in August they had about 20 cases and up till now we have not been able to establish the cause of the allergy.
“The issue of water supply in that community is a major problem. The area is a squatter settlement and there are no facilities in the place.
“It has a makeshift settlement and their major source of water supply is the pond which both human beings and animals use.
“However, there is a commercial borehole there. As at the last intervention, the public health department had provided some interventions, such as eye drops and other drugs,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that 60 persons exhibited some inexplicable signs of blindness in Ruga, a makeshift community, about two kilometres away from Abuja City Gate, few months ago.
The Director, Public Health Department, FCT, Humphrey Okoroukwu, disclosed that the initial interventions in the community by the department were in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and some NGOs.
Mr Okoroukwu said the measures had brought some relief to residents.
He said that apart from the eye drops and other medication that were distributed to the affected persons, the administration had given directives that more surveillance be carried out in the area.
The director said this was to ensure that human lives were not lost to the strange illness.
On his part, Chief Dauda Dogo, the District Head of Karamajiji, said that the community was part of his domain, and that the illness had instilled fears in the residents.
Mr Dogo also thanked the FCTA for its timely intervention and appealed for the provision of potable water and healthcare facilities in the community to prevent a re-occurrence in the future.
NAN
