The Minister Of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has criticized the continuous use of Chloroquine and Artemisinin monotherapy to fight malaria claiming that it is no longer useful and it remained banned.
The Health Minister who spoke on Tuesday in Abuja, to mark this year’s World Malaria Day said that about N300bn was being lost annually by the Federal Government in the treatment and prevention of the disease.
According to him, these losses were as a result of government’s efforts to tackle the epidemic in the country.
He spoke on the topic, “End Malaria for Good: What is your Role?” He said,
“With a new emphasis on citizen accountability and rights, I want you as a Nigerian citizen to challenge your health care provider and ask questions.
“When you have malaria and somebody wants to prescribe drugs for you, ask the health care provider: ‘Have you confirmed this is malaria?’ It is your right.
“As a citizen when your healthcare provider prescribes chloroquine or artemisinin monotherapy, say no. Doctors and nurses have been told that chloroquine is no longer useful and that it is wrong to prescribe artemisinin monotherapy. For the healthcare provider, do not treat malaria without a diagnosis.
“Tell yourself, ‘I must not prescribe chloroquine. I must not prescribe monotherapy for artemisinin when what we should prescribe is a combination therapy”,
