The Sokoto State government says it will administer 3.6 million doses of anti-malaria drugs on the people of the state within the next four weeks as part of efforts to combat the recent malaria outbreak in the state, which has claimed at least five lives in just one month.

The state Commissioner of Health, Balarabe Kakale, alongside other government functionaries visited the affected areas and assured residents that the needed number of drugs have been procured and kept at various medical stores across the state.

He said the drugs would be administered in four phases, with 900,000 doses given in each round.

The commissioner appealed to the people, especially those within the metropolis, to cooperate with the government to end the outbreak as adequate arrangements have been made to ensure success of the exercise.

He said: “As you are aware, we recently undertook massive fumigation of mosquitoes’ breeding areas across the state.

“We recorded successes on that front but we are appealing to people to help us by keeping their environments clean.

“In close collaboration with other ministries, we are working to deploy sanitary inspectors that will move to nooks and crannies of the state to ensure compliance to environmental laws.

“This will help our efforts in ensuring all areas are kept clean, thereby mitigating the effects of the deadly disease,” he added.

Kakale also said that the state government had conducted sensitisation exercises at various health facilities to enlighten residents on the need to adopt preventative measures while tackling diseases such as malaria.

It was gathered that the state government also sent a delegation, headed by Secretary to State Government, Bashar Garba, to condole with families of the five persons who lost their lives in the outbreak in Sokoto town.

However, some patients in the state-owned Specialist Hospital and other government owned health centers across the state have called for proper monitoring of the healthcare practitioners in the state.

Some of the patients who spoke on conditions of anonymity said that doctors in the specialist hospital were not always available to treat patients.