Nigeria has not eliminated Ebola — FG

The Federal Government declared, yesterday, that in spite of the huge success it recorded in curtailing the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in the country, it has not yet completely eliminated the virus.

HEALTH PERSONNEL IN PROTECTIVE  KITS AT THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL IN ABUJA ON TUESDAY (12/8/14).

Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, disclosed this yesterday when he spoke with state House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting where he briefed the president and members of the Council on the containment of EVD.

The minister spoke on a day President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the stigmatisation of Nigerians by some countries over recent cases of the Ebola Virus in the country.

According to the minister: “I don’t want Nigerians to panic, but I don’t want us to be carried away with euphoria because if we still one case of Ebola Virus Disease, it is an emergency.

“The World Health Organization, WHO, defines Ebola epidemic as when one person is infected with the disease. We have to be cautious as long as there is still a victim in the country,” he said.

According to the Minister: “While Nigeria has successfully contained Ebola Virus Disease, it has not eliminated the disease because there is still a case we are managing and as long as there is one case in the world, every country is still at risk.

“It is still possible that Nigeria may record between one to three new cases because there are people under surveillance. There is a case we are still managing and even that case we are still managing must also have had her own third degree contacts, many of whom are part of this number of people that are under surveillance.
“There is still a chance one of the people under surveillance may fall sick and test positive. So until we give a clean bill of health to every contact, we cannot even say we have eliminated the disease,” he emphasised.
On government’s decision to close primary and secondary schools in the country till October, Professor Chukwu said it was a precautionary measure to safeguard the lives of children.

He also emphasised that there is no need for the country’s borders to be closed just yet, adding that government may consider closing the borders only if it is absolutely necessary to do so.

“There is no panic to close borders, but if it becomes necessary, we may close borders. Our borders are still open, but what we are doing is screening of people coming into the country,” he said.

On the N1.9 billion released by the Federal Government to fight Ebola Virus Disease, Professor Chukwu said the money was for the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies to contain the spread of Ebola and not to be shared to states of the federation.

Discrimination
Also, President Jonathan, who was not happy with the way Nigerians were being discriminated against in foreign countries on account of the virus in Nigeria, condemned such discrimination when he had a meeting with Mr. David Navarro, a Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General.

He particularly denounced discriminatory actions such as that which forced Nigeria’s team to the Youth Olympics in China to abandon its participation.
Noting that there was no justification for such stigmatisation of Nigerians since the Ebola Virus Disease had been effectively contained in the country and never attained scandalous levels, the President called for the cessation of discriminatory actions against Nigerians over the virus and urged the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon to support the call.

Responding to the Secretary General’s commendation of Nigeria’s management of the threat of Ebola, President Jonathan praised the Federal Ministry of Health, the Lagos State Government and all Nigerians for the success achieved so far in containing the virus and avoiding a national epidemic.
“All hands have been on deck to contain the virus here. I commend my team and the Lagos State Government. We have been able to set politics aside and work in unison to deal with a national threat.

“All other Nigerians have played a part too by complying with the directives and advice we have issued to stop the virus from spreading any further. The success we have had is a testimony to what we can achieve as people if we set aside our differences and work together,” he told Mr. Navarro.

The President assured the Special Envoy that in spite of the seeming success of its containment measures, the Federal Government and its agencies will remain vigilant to guard against further cases of Ebola in the country.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and we will also support other affected African countries as much as we can because we cannot be completely safe from the virus as long as it continues to ravage some countries in our sub-region and continent. We will continue to work with the international community to curb the out-break in other countries,” President Jonathan pledged.

Mr. Navarro, who had visited Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the countries worst hit by Ebola before coming to Nigeria, told the President that he had come, on the instruction of the UN Secretary-General, to applaud Nigeria’s successful containment of the virus.
“The Secretary-General asked me to come here too, not because you have an Ebola problem, but because you have tackled it in an exemplary fashion.
“Your personal leadership on the matter has been key. There may still be some work to be done before the virus is completely cleared out from here, but other countries can learn from your fine example,” Mr. Navarro told the President.

Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, Mr. Navarro commended Nigeria’s efforts at containing the Ebola Virus.
He said: “The point I made to the President of Nigeria is that this country and its people have performed excellently in their response to Ebola Virus Disease.
“It has been a whole of country effort. The whole of the society has been involved and the correct procedures are being adopted.

“There will always be out-breaks of dangerous diseases in our world because of globalisation, because we want free movement between countries and between communities and because there are viruses that move from the animal kingdom to the human population.
“The good public health techniques and the full involvement of all of society, strong leadership by all, whatever their political parties, can lead to successful control effort.

“We, of course, regret that some people lost their lives. There may be some one, who got sick and died as a result of this current Ebola problem in Nigeria, but I am confident that the government and the people are responding in a proper way and to ensure that the situation is kept under control by the way they are paying full attention to the people’s rights and entitlements.”
Why First Consultants Medical Centre is still shut.
The First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, where the first case was treated, is still shut because the Lagos State government is waiting for directive from the World Health Organisation, WHO, after de-contamination exercises in the facility.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who explained this in Lagos, said already several de-contaminations have been done in the place confirmed that it was going to take some time before the facility will be opened.
“I need to get clearance from the Ebola Emergency Operation Centre because they are the ones, who could give clearance that the hospital is clean and ready for re-opening. It is after that the state government embarks on its own process.

De-contamination may not be complete because some of the equipment in the hospital may be discarded, burn some materials and other activities. This is to ensure that the hospital is free of the virus. So it will take some time before the hospital will be re-opened, but once we get the approval, WHO and EOC the government will do the needful.”

No Ebola-free certificate
Idris said there is need to report every death and obtain Ebola-free documentation to facilitate the transportation of out-bounds corpses from the state. He however, dismissed rumours about Ebola free certificate, saying, “There is nothing like Ebola-free certificate being issued routinely to persons applying for visas in foreign embassies in Nigeria.
“Clearance certificate are nonetheless issued to contacts that have completed the 21-day maximum incubation period of EVD.”
N1.9 bn not for Ebola fund

Meanwhile, the Health Minister said that the N1.9 billion earlier approved by President Goodluck Jonathan, at the time he declared emergency over the disease, widely believed to be used for containing the virus, is for the improvement of the nation’s general health systems.
“We did say that the N1.9 billion that the President approved was for the Federal Ministry of Health; those ones that the Federal Ministry of Health should champion. That fund was provided based on the budget that the Federal Ministry of Health submitted to Mr. President. It was not termed an Ebola fund.

“I repeat, because now I hear that in some places, even village heads are asking for their own share. Nigeria is always thinking of sharing money. It is money for the Federal Ministry of Health to use in working. They are going to use it to procure more vehicles; which have already been ordered.
“They are going to use it to procure more personal protective equipment which had already been ordered. They are going to use it to provide isolation tents, which again had been ordered, including drugs which will be used to support the patients.

“It is a budget for the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies as submitted by the Federal Ministry of Health to Mr. President.
“What I am saying is that there will still be other funds that will still be released in various ways, depending on what any of the cognate agencies is requesting from Mr. President that must be done..