The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EVD

  • Chevron donates ambulances to Lagos

    Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL- NNPC/CNL Joint Venture) has donated two ambulances to support the fight against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Lagos. The ambulances, which are equipped with emergency life support tools and oxygen for optimum care of EVD patients, were donated to support the core operations of the Ebola Operation Centre (EOC) and for Point of Entry (POE) activities of the EOC at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Health Services in Lagos.

    The first ambulance was handed over to the EOC, at the Public Health Central Library, Yaba, while the second one was presented at the Port Health Services office at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja.

    Dr. Olubukunola Fagade, CNL’s Medical Director, who made the donations on behalf of the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture, said the donations were a part of the Joint Venture’s social investments in the area of health for the benefit of the people of Nigeria. “We see the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as a threat to the collective health and socio-economy of  the country. We, therefore, reiterate our commitment to partner with other stakeholders to stem the tide of Ebola,” he said.

    Receiving the ambulance at the EOC headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Faishal Shuaib, Head/Incident Manager EOC, who is also the Technical Advisor to the Minister of State of Health, lauded the Joint Venture’s effort and described the contribution as invaluable in the concerted efforts at containing the disease. “This donation will definitely assist in dealing with this emergency. It is important to acknowledge the fact that Nigeria has done a very good job in acting quickly.”

    At the presentation to the Port Health Services, Dr. Morenike Alex-Okoh, Head, Port Health Services, Lagos who was accompanied by Mrs. Faleye, Head Nurse, received the ambulance designated for Port Health assistance. She described the donation as critical to the services rendered by her organisation. “We are grateful to the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture for this wonderful support and with more of this kind of gestures; Ebola will soon be a thing of the past”.

    Dr  Fagade reinforced CNL’s commitment to Nigeria, especially in the aspects of economic and social development in the three thematic focus areas of health, education and economic development. He promised that the company will  partner other stakeholders to ensure that the dreaded disease is contained and stopped from spreading in the country. “We have a very strategic ongoing approach to support the work of the Ebola team in Nigeria and we are collaborating with other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy.” he said.

  • Chevron donates ambulances to Lagos

    Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL- NNPC/CNL Joint Venture) has donated two ambulances to support the fight against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Lagos. The ambulances, which are equipped with emergency life support tools and oxygen for optimum care of EVD patients, were donated to support the core operations of the Ebola Operation Centre (EOC) and for Point of Entry (POE) activities of the EOC at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Health Services in Lagos.

    The first ambulance was handed over to the EOC, at the Public Health Central Library, Yaba, while the second one was presented at the Port Health Services office at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja.

    Dr. Olubukunola Fagade, CNL’s Medical Director, who made the donations on behalf of the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture, said the donations were a part of the Joint Venture’s social investments in the area of health for the benefit of the people of Nigeria. “We see the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as a threat to the collective health and socio-economy of  the country. We, therefore, reiterate our commitment to partner with other stakeholders to stem the tide of Ebola,” he said.

    Receiving the ambulance at the EOC headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Faishal Shuaib, Head/Incident Manager EOC, who is also the Technical Advisor to the Minister of State of Health, lauded the Joint Venture’s effort and described the contribution as invaluable in the concerted efforts at containing the disease. “This donation will definitely assist in dealing with this emergency. It is important to acknowledge the fact that Nigeria has done a very good job in acting quickly.”

    At the presentation to the Port Health Services, Dr. Morenike Alex-Okoh, Head, Port Health Services, Lagos who was accompanied by Mrs. Faleye, Head Nurse, received the ambulance designated for Port Health assistance. She described the donation as critical to the services rendered by her organisation. “We are grateful to the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture for this wonderful support and with more of this kind of gestures; Ebola will soon be a thing of the past”.

    Dr  Fagade reinforced CNL’s commitment to Nigeria, especially in the aspects of economic and social development in the three thematic focus areas of health, education and economic development. He promised that the company will  partner other stakeholders to ensure that the dreaded disease is contained and stopped from spreading in the country. “We have a very strategic ongoing approach to support the work of the Ebola team in Nigeria and we are collaborating with other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy.” he said.

  • Ebola: Suspected patient tests negative in Sokoto

    Ebola: Suspected patient tests negative in Sokoto

    A 25-year-old suspected patient of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) brought to the accident and emergency unit of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto at the weekend has tested negative to the deadly virus.

    The patient whose identity was not disclosed was said to be manifesting symptoms of EVD while receiving treatment at the institution.

    A statement signed by the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Yakubu Ahmed, said tests revealed the unidentified patient was not infected with Ebola, Lassa, Dengue and West Nile diseases.

    Stating that the hospital has the approval of the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, to speak on the suspected case, Ahmed said the patient was taken to the hospital on September 1st on the accounts of vomiting, weakness of the body, cough and bleeding from the nostrils.

    His conditions generated panic and sudden fear among residents, with many believing he was infected with EVD.

    According to Ahmed: “The patient was initially managed at a private hospital on account of gastro-enteritis. He got better and was discharged only to start presenting such symptoms.”

    “His sample was immediately taken and sent to the reference laboratory in Lagos for Ebola virus test.

    “In line with this and while we commend the efforts of the health workers for their vigilance and courage in the management of the case, we urge people not to panic and be assured that the federal government is committed to the safety of Nigerians.”

     

  • School donates non-contact thermometre

    Yahaya Ahmed Model School Gombe has donated 136 units of non-contact electronic thermometre for distribution to government and schools to check the menace of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    The school’s Director of Operations, Mrs. Jamila Bello, said the user- friendly gadgets procured from Europe and the United States will enable users measure body temperature without contact.

    “It is not even about the money, it is the spirit behind it. If we should have it for our students, we feel we should give it to other schools too and we should also give it to the government to support the government in its efforts to have an Ebola-free environment,” she said.

    100 units of the thermometre, she stated, will be given for distribution to public schools across the state.

    The rest, according to her, will be distributed directly to other private schools, healthcare facilities, government agencies and parastatal in the state.

    She said the school also provides humanitarian services through the provision of scholarship to indigent citizens of its immediate community at Shongo estate in the outskirts of the state capital.

    On the mass failure in this year’s WAEC in Gombe state, Bello challenged the government to motivate teachers better.

     

  • ‘Schools not most vulnerable to spread

    Although owners of private schools in Kwara State would comply with the Federal Government’s extension of resumption date in schools till October 13, they decried implementing the decision in states without the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    The Federal Government announced the extension of resumption date for primary and secondary schools by a month, following the outbreak of EVD in parts of the country, as one of the measures to curtail its spread.

    The Kwara State President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Rahaman Lateef, addressed reporters yesterday in Ilorin after an emergency meeting.

    He said he wondered why the Federal Government would single out primary and secondary schools as the most vulnerable to the spread of EVD “when places where people gather to contract the virus are left open.”

    Lateef described the compliance as a call to duty, noting that school ownership should not be for business, but also for social service.

    He hailed NAPPS members for their courage, saying the association’s cooperative society would cushion the effect of resumption extension by giving them food items.

    The NAPPS president, however, urged concerned authorities and government to ensure early resumption because of the economic effect on his members.

    Lateef, who enjoined NAPPS members to be patient, also advised them to engage in crop/vegetable farming, poultry, fishing, bead making and livestock rearing, among others.

    The association, which said the Federal Government should have listed the measures to be taken by schools to prevent the spread or outbreak of EVD, added that it should not have directed closure or extension of resumption date.

    Lateef said the extension would affect the school calendar and the standard of education.

     

  • Ebola Virus Disease and Nigeria’s response

    Ebola Virus Disease and Nigeria’s response

    The United States of America has been proud to work closely with the Federal Government of Nigeria and the governments of the affected states to fight the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).  Nigeria must sustain this coordinated response, and we pledge to continue our support, along with other international partners and global health organisations, until the disease is defeated.

    Our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones and all those who have been affected.  Health professionals are often at the front lines when infectious diseases erupt, and Nigeria has suffered losses – courageous doctors and nurses who lost their lives in the line of duty.  They helped prevent a catastrophic pandemic, and we honor them for their dedication and professionalism, along with the many health care professionals who continue to put their personal safety second in service to their fellow man.

    I recently visited the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Central Public Health Laboratory in Yaba and was greatly impressed by the response team led by the incident manager, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, and personnel of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and my colleagues from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have done, and continue to do, remarkable work.  Their combined efforts led to increased awareness of EVD by the general public, well equipped health facilities that provide good care, and thorough contact tracing – all elements that remain critical to containing and wiping out EVD and other infectious diseases.

    Unfortunately, there are no tested and approved drugs or vaccines to mitigate the virus.  Strict protocols must be observed when new treatments are being explored.  Any use of an experimental drug must be approved by the World Health Organization and administered under a patient-physician agreement.  It has been widely reported that small experimental doses of a drug called ZMapp were made available to a few EVD patients-two Americans, one Spanish citizen, and three Liberians-some of whom were first-line health care workers fighting the Ebola outbreak.  Some of these patients have recovered and been released from care, but two of them lost their lives despite the experimental treatment.  As medical experts have made clear to us, there is no way to immediately connect the patients’ respective outcomes to the drug; far more data is needed before we know whether the drug had any efficacy whatsoever.  What we do know is that access to quality care and treatment makes the difference as to whether or not a patient survives.

    While there has been unimaginable loss of life in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, early testing and treatment has produced good results in Nigeria and must be continued.  Seven EVD patients who received care have recovered, which underscores the importance of timely action.  Health professionals are providing full-time care to help patients fight the virus.  This is why it is important to continue monitoring individuals who have been in contact with infected patients and offer them immediate care if they have developed any EVD symptoms.  Rapid response is critical to contain infections and help save lives.  The system in place for Lagos works, and was quickly redeployed to Port Harcourt when a case was reported there.

    Even after this immediate threat of Ebola has passed, we must remain vigilant to maintain and strengthen the structure put in place to combat it, so that we will be better prepared to deal with any similar outbreak that may occur in the future.

    The U.S. Government takes the Ebola threat very seriously, and we are fully dedicated to working with our governmental and nongovernmental allies to respond to this crisis and prevent its spread.  We have been engaged in fighting this outbreak since March when the cases were first reported.  We have expanded our efforts and increased our number of expert personnel in the region over the last several weeks in response to the growing severity of the outbreak.  We encourage all individuals who think they are or even might be affected by the Ebola virus to seek immediate professional medical help.  This is critical to helping all of us save lives-including our own and those of the people we love.

    We can and will defeat Ebola, but we must all work together to succeed.

     

    …Entwistle is American Ambassador to Nigeria

     

  • Nigeria seeks Japanese drug Favipiravir

    Nigeria seeks Japanese drug Favipiravir

    Desperate to tackle the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the Federal Government has applied for a Japanese drug on test “Favipiravir.”

    Also being applied for is the TKM-Ebola drug and two other vaccines identified by the Treatment Research Group set up by government.

    Minister of Health Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu broke the news yesterday at the second Emergency National Council on Health meeting in Abuja.

    Favipiravir was developed by a subsidiary of Japanese company Fujifilm Holdings. It could be delivered immediately by the makers, the minister said.

    The flu treatment was approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health in March.

    Fujifilm spokesman Takao Aoki said the company was in talks with United States (U.S.) authorities about starting clinical testing of favipiravir for Ebola treatment. Aoki said the developers had enough stock to treat up to 20,000 patients.

    The minister said: “The Treatment Research Group (TRG) has been working hard to identify experimental drugs, like Zmapp, and also make recommendations to government on further research on these drugs as well as vaccines for EVD treatment and prevention.

    “Following the TRG’s recommendation and in consultation with NAFDAC and NHREC, Nigeria has indicated interest to participate in the clinical trials for two candidate EVD vaccines and are considering a third that may be added to the list. We have also applied for experimental drugs, such as TKM-Ebola.”

    “The TRG has submitted a detailed profile and brief on the oral antiviral agent which the Japanese Government has offered to make available to affected countries through the WHO. We are now considering the profile and brief to enable us reach a final decision on making it available to our patients.”

    Chukwu said: “Our initial knowledge of the agent is that it has  been shown to have strong antiviral activity against the influenza virus, following phases I and II human trails; it is now going through phase III clinical trials. It is shown to have strong antiviral property against Ebola virus in vitro and in vivo. These and the fact that it is considered safe, having passed through phases I and II clinical trials makes it good candidate drug for use in emergency situation as the EVD.”

  • Ebola: 39 foreigners arrested in Lagos hotels

    Ebola: 39 foreigners arrested in Lagos hotels

    OFFICERS of the Nigeria Police, the   Nigerian Immigration Services and health officials at the weekend collaborated to arrest 39 foreigners in two hotels on Lagos Island.

    The arrest of the foreigners, it was gathered, was to prevent possible spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    The foreigners, 35 from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and four Senegalese were arrested by security agents at Benin Hotel and Guest House on Atere Street in Lagos Island.

    Eye witnesses said the arrest followed a tip-off by some residents of the area to Area A Command, Lion Building, Lagos.

    The residents were said to have expressed fears that the activities of the foreigners, mostly cohabiting together, could lead to the spread of EVD in the area.

    On receiving the report, the Area Commander and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Imohimi Edgal, reportedly contacted immigration and health officials who stormed the hotel where the foreigners were placed under arrest.

    A police source who spoke to newsmen said the immigration officials will determine if the suspects are legally residing in the country.

    The source said the health officials will determine their health status to know if they actually have the dreaded disease or not.

    Following the arrest, all hotels in the area have been placed under close surveillance while the residents were told to report any suspicious persons or activities to the police.

    Speaking to newsmen, a resident of the area, Femi Ajasa, said they became suspicious and alerted the police following the mass movements of the foreigners into the hotels since the outbreak of the Ebola virus.

    While commending the Area A Command for their swift response, which led to the arrest of the suspects, he said the residents suspected that some persons were receiving treatment in the hotels rooms, a development which made them alert authorities.

  • Wrong fall guy

    Wrong fall guy

    •It is good news that doctors’ strike is over, but FG shouldn’t have blamed media for its blunder in sacking the doctors

    It is just as well that doctors in the country have suspended their 55-day-old strike action. The umbrella body of the doctors, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) said it had to call off the strike on Sunday, following appeals from well-meaning Nigerians and in view of the medical emergency caused by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) brought into Nigeria by the late American-Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, on July 20.

    The suspension of the strike was a big relief as many government hospitals were deserted during the strike, with the attendant loss of lives that usually accompany such doctors’ strike.

    We welcome the doctors’ decision, but we don’t praise them. They did not call off the strike to heed the sublime philosophy of their Hippocratic oath, but because they had lost anything that was left of their moral purpose. It was a desperate surrender as face-saving, rather than a noble gesture.

    But, while the issues that led to the strike are themselves important, government’s handling of it, particularly the alleged sacking of the resident doctors under the aegis of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), an affiliate of the NMA, (which government later denied), is equally germane.

    The Federal Government has denied sacking the doctors, saying that it was the journalists that misrepresented its position. According to the government, it suspended residency but did not sack the resident doctors. We find this denial quite ridiculous. Suspension and dismissal are two different things entirely.

    Yet, in a memo dated August 13, the government had explained that it had no choice but to take that course of action having “considered recent developments in the heath sector.” Indeed, a circular by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. L.N. Awute, to all Chief Medical Directors and medical directors in public hospitals put it bluntly, “The honourable minister has directed that you issue letters of termination of Residency Training appointment to the affected Resident Doctors in your hospital immediately.’’ Awute added that the development was “for the purposes of appraising the challenges in the health sector”.

    Quite naturally, the so-called sacking of about 16,000 doctors attracted widespread criticisms in a country suffering from an acute shortage of medical doctors. Whilst NARD said the sack was unfortunate and provocative, NMA’s national president, Dr Kayode Obembe, warned the affected doctors not to collect any sack letter or sign any register opened in any hospital. “For the avoidance of doubt, no doctor, no matter how hungry, should pick up any locum appointment with the government hospitals as directed by the circular. Any doctor who flouts this directive does so at his or her own peril,” Obembe added.

    The government apparently got overwhelmed by the deluge of criticisms of its sacking of its doctors and was looking for a fall guy, hence, its belated change of mind that it suspended, rather than sacked the doctors.

    This sad development is the result of yet another ill-digested policy pronouncement. If indeed, the government had not meant to sack the doctors, why did it take such a long time for it to react to news reports that the doctors had been sacked? The circular by Awute was issued on August 13, why did the government wait till August 20 to refute the story or put it in perspective, as the case may be? Clearly, the volte face was an after-thought and the government should have been honest enough to admit its blunder rather than blame it on ‘change in vocabulary’ caused by the media.

    All said, the strike has come and gone, but we hope the lessons have been learnt. There are some points in the doctors’ demands, especially those having to do with the issue of funding of the health sector and upgrading of facilities in our hospitals, welfare of the doctors, etc. But there are some of the demands too that make no sense. For instance, we do not know why nurses, pharmacists and other personnel in the health sector cannot aspire to the highest echelons of their respective professions or become consultants. We do not think there has ever been any issue as to where the ultimate power lies in the sector; so, the fear of such people taking over the functions of doctors does not arise.

     

  • Ebola: NLC restricts nine countries from conference

    Ebola: NLC restricts nine countries from conference

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has written a letter of restriction to delegates from nine countries with outbreaks of the Ebloa Virus Disease (EVD) to stay away from its 12th Rain School 2014 in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

    Adhering to the restriction notice, the countries, including Liberia, South Africa, Guinea and Kenya, are absent from the conference.

    NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar spoke yesterday in his opening remarks at the delegates’ conference.

    He said the congress barred the delegates from the affected countries to prevent the importation or exportation of the virus.

    The theme of the conference is: Inequality and Socio-Political Instability: Issues and Challenges for the Working Class.

    Omar said: “We don’t know if they intend coming; whether or not their authorities will allow them to come. This is because it is a matter of emergency and national security.”

    The union leader explained that the NLC took the decision because the presence of Ebola-infected nationals would scare other participants away.

    It was learnt that the only delegate from Ghana, Gladys Osuma, was certified Ebola-free.

    Omar said: “It is very unique because I thought for the first time we are holding the school with people only from Nigeria. But we are happy we are able to get our sister from Ghana. Although most of the time you cannot even differentiate between Nigeria and Ghana except that there are two countries in between us.

    “But you know for obvious reason why it is only one person from Ghana who is here today. That is because of the unfortunate incident of the Ebola Virus Disease. Some countries are making efforts to ensure that people outside would not come either to import or export this dreaded disease.

    “That is why we made efforts to write to quite a number of these countries, particularly Sierra-Leone, Liberia, and even South Africa. So, they should help us by staying back, because we wouldn’t want to bring in people to scare other people here.

    “When you hear that somebody from Liberia is here, all of you will stay away. We asked them to stay back. But I am very happy that our sister from Ghana is hale and hearty and she will also go back hale and hearty.”

    The NLC president hailed the Federal Government for containing the EVD spread.

    He said: “We are vry happy that the government has done all it could to ensure that this thing is warded off and the spread is not allowed.”

     

     

     

     

    Omar admitted that the restriction of foreign delegates might affect the national economy.

    According to him, there is primacy of good health over wealth, since it is people that create and manage wealth.

    Omar noted that if the disease is effectively managed, its effect would be minimal.

    Chairperson of the state

    Akwa Ibom State NLC Council Chairperson Comrade Unyime Usoro said Governor Godswill Akpabio had directed that no group or individual should be shut out of the state, if they are Ebola-free.

    The governor’s Labour and Productivity Special Assistant Godwin Udoh said national security had not been so floundered since 1964 as Ebola and other challenges had made it.

    He said: “The combination of political uncertainty, social unrest and specific security traits pose enormous security challenges to the working class.

    “The killings and insecurity by Boko Haram in some part of the country is ill-timed and unpatriotic. It is designed to create socio-political instability. It is an ill-will that blows no one any good.”