Minister of Health Announces Measures to Combat Ebola Spread

Posted by FactNews Admin | 10 years ago | 2,820 times



Yesterday, Nigerian Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu outlined the measures being taken by the federal government to combat the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. He announced that a 24/7 Emergency Operations Centre will be fully functional as of today (Thursday) and that Dr. Faisal Shuaibu will be the Incident Manager of the centre. Shuaibu was expected to lead a six-member inter-agency team, drawn from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the US CDC, the WHO, UNICEF and the Bill and Medinda Gates Foundation to Lagos to complete the setting up of the centre. Chukwu said the team would be joined by other personnel from the Lagos State Government, federal hospitals in the state and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Chukwu also announced the appointment of Prof. O. Onajole of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital as the director, Communication and Community Mobilisation, for the Ebola virus disease (EVD). He added, “We are embarking on recruiting additional health personnel to strengthen the team who are currently managing the situation in Lagos. “We are making arrangements to procure isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. “We are also setting up a special team to provide counselling and psychosocial support to patients, identified contacts and their families.” Chukwu expressed the hope that the Nigeria Medical Association would soon call off its strike to join in the emergency service since government had met almost all their demands. He also noted that he had requested the experimental drug being used to treat two American missionary doctors infected with the virus in Liberia from the US Centre for Disease Control. Chukwu announced the launch of a website - www.ebolaalert.org - to offer information on the virus. The website is accompanied by a Twitter handle, @ebolaalert, and a telephone line for further information: 080032652434

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