THE Federal Government has
announced a direct assistance of N200 million to Lagos State government, to
enable it to successfully curtail the spread of Ebola virus disease in the
state.
Government had recently set aside
the sum of N1.9 billion for the 36 states of the federation to combat the
disease, following its importation into the country by the index case patient,
the Liberian-American, the late Patrick Sawyer.
Chukwu, who briefed FEC on the
progress of the move to halt the disease in the country, assured that
comprehensive efforts had been deployed to eliminate the virus with the support
of the president.
He said as of Wednesday, Nigeria
had a total number of 12 cases of Ebola, which include the index case, adding
that out of the 12, the the total number of successful cases stood at five and
the total number of dead is also five.
Speaking on the death of Dr Ameyo
Adadevoh, who handled the index case, the minister regretted that she succumbed
to Ebola.
“Indeed, she had to physically
restrain this infected person (Sawyer) from escaping from hospital when the
latter attempted to do so, having been communicated that he was Ebola positive.
“If that index case had escaped
hospital at that stage, it would have spelt disaster for Nigeria, as many more
persons who would have been very difficult to track could have become primary
contacts.
“There is no doubt that Dr
Adadevoh was not only a dedicated, committed and competent doctor, but she
showed rare courage, rare sense of duty, service and patriotism to her
country,” the minister said.
He revealed that he had met with
the family of the late doctor in Lagos and had been able to clear the
misconceptions which followed her treatment in isolation.
The minister pointed out that
Ebola survivors did not pose any danger to the society and, therefore, advised
against stigmatisation.
No comments:
Post a Comment