Kano Deaths: Why We Opted for ‘Verbal Autopsy’ for Victims – State Govt

Malik Yahya/

The coordinator of Kano State Technical Response Team on COVID 19, Dr Tijjani Hussain, has admitted that the state did not carry out autopsies on the remains of the victims of the mysterious deaths ravaging the state before they were buried.

Speaking in an interview with a local radio station in Kano, Wazobia 95.1, this morning, Hussain noted that the Kano State Technical Response Team on COVID 19 opted for “verbal autopsy” from the family of the victims.

According to him, the government was compelled to adopt an alternative means of ascertaining the cause of the deaths because the religion of the majority people in the state does not encourage autopsy before burial.

He said, “Kano tradition and religion don’t encourage autopsy, so we adopted verbal autopsy from families of the deceased. We will soon reveal our findings.”

He also confirmed that the suspended operations of the NCDC testing laboratory in the state will be reactivated tomorrow.

Over the last few days, there has been a number of unexplained deaths in the state, which the government insisted were not related to COVID-19.

After days of silence, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje yesterday acknowledged the deaths and mandated the ministry of health to investigate the cause.

There are 77 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kano with one death recorded.