By Jacob Bol

John Chatim, the Commissioner of Duk County has called on the State Ministry of Health to enforce a quick emergency response to cholera after the county confirmed 40 cases of Cholera in the area island.

The commissioner said the disease is overwhelming people in Duk County, especially those that live in the overcrowded Island areas.

“We are calling on the state ministry of health to respond quickly in order to help the patients who are suffering from cholera,” Chatim said.

The Commissioner added that the cases are coming in from different regions within Jonglei State, a major challenges to the health system. He confirmed that the cases were reported to the authorities on Thursday and the patients were transferred to Panyagor Health facilities.

For his part, Duop Roam, the Director General at the Ministry of Health, said the government has been trying its best to response quickly to the cholera outbreak, and that a team was dispatched to Pigi canal to create awareness in the community. He said there are no cases of Cholera reported in County so far.

Roam denied the statements of existence of cholera in Duk County, and stated that the state government is doing its best to tackle the disease.

“Last week, the government sent a team to Canal of Pigi to mitigate the issues of Cholera in that part of the state and also create awareness in the communities on the protective measures on cholera. Within Bor, the reported cholera cases are 20 but there are no deaths,” Duop said.

Authorities of Twic East in Jonglei State have confirmed 6 cholera death cases and 20 patients admitted to the hospital.

Juach Arok, the commissioner of Twic East County said the issue of transportation and shortage of drugs for managing cholera patients is a major challenge to the fight against the disease.