An early morning fire has razed the medical store of the Gombe State Ministry of Health, destroying medical equipment, consumables and drugs worth millions of naira.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, who confirmed the incident, said the fire started at about 2:00am on Monday.
According to him, staff on duty quickly informed officials in charge of the stores, who equally alerted firemen for emergency response.d
“But before the firemen could reach the stores, the inferno ha done major damage on the store, resulting in the collapse of the eastern wall of the building.”
The commissioner said investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire and the level of damage.
Our correspondent reports that the fire razed the store a few days to the forthcoming March immunisation exercise against child-killer diseases.
The Operations Officer of the Gombe State Fire Service, Umar Farouk, said the service received a distressed call at 3:08 am, and immediately mobilized their personnel to the scene.
He said the firemen successfully contained the fire from further spread to other blocks.