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The US government has commended the Nigerian government and its health authorities for their handling of the Ebola virus since it broke in Lagos last month.
The US’ commendation came on the back of more good news yesterday that four more patients who had contracted the disease had been discharged and declared free of the infectious disease.
With their discharge, this brings the total number of people who have been given the all clear to five.
A total of 12 people were struck with the virus in Nigeria, including the index case Patrick Sawyer, of which four have died, five have been discharged while three remain in the isolation ward at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
However, all hopes that the US would send the ZMapp experimental drug to Nigeria were dimmed yesterday when the US government ruled out the possibility, saying there were insufficient quantities of the drug available.
Making this known when he visited the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, in Abuja, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, informed reporters that what was needed was to focus primarily on isolation and the screening of patients or those suspected to have contracted the virus.
According to Entwistle: “We’ll see down the road what is possible. But there are no huge quantities now. And we think the focus now needs to be on exactly what you are doing: the isolation wards, screening, and especially important that now your government is doing a very good job on this, that is contact tracing.”
The envoy said he just came back from the US late last week, adding, “I was in Washington, of course, for the US-African Leaders Summit and I came over to see the minister right away as soon as I got back into town to discuss our anti-Ebola cooperation.
“I was in the room in Washington when Vice President (Joe) Biden and President (Goodluck) Jonathan talked about the Ebola crisis, talked about our partnership, and pledged the total cooperation between your government and my government on this issue.
“So I just came over to see the minister this morning to talk to him about that and you’ve all seen the headlines over the weekend. This is an issue where we have to keep working hard. It may last for a while but there are some encouraging signs.
“The Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), I understand, is working well. The isolation ward, I understand, is working well. So this is an example we have, as part of the broad partnership between our two countries, just keep collaborating and cooperating and keep working hard.”
While commending Nigeria for effectively curtailing the spread of the Ebola virus, Entwistle stated: “I noticed that when I flew back on Thursday night into this country, before I left the plane, I filled out a questionnaire.
“I was very impressed because I even had to put my seat number which is a very good idea. So if you ever have to trace the guy sitting next to me you know where I am. So I have been impressed by these things and I encourage the government of Nigeria to keep at it as I know they will.
“I always say we have a broad partnership between our two countries which means we do things together as equals to make the world a better place. I can’t think of a more important example today than our Ebola cooperation.”
Chukwu, on his part, said the visit came at the right time considering the need for collaboration between the two countries, specifically on the Ebola virus.
Chukwu said as the representative of the US government, the envoy will assist in various ways in the prevention of the virus from spreading further.
The minister referred to the US ambassador as the spokesperson for the US government in Nigeria, adding, “So he came to me as the chief public health officer of the country, because that is what the Minister of Health is, to exchange views with me on the collaboration with America.
Four Patients Discharged
The minister also disclosed that four additional patients were yesterday discharged and declared free of the infectious disease.
In a statement in Abuja, Chukwu said the development was a good omen for Nigeria, taking into cognisance the devastation the virus had caused in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media and Communication, Dan Nwomeh, stated that the “Minister of Health has announced that four additional confirmed cases of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), which have been managed successfully, and are now disease-free and have been discharged to go home today (yesterday)”.
It added that the discharged patients included two male medical doctors and one female nurse.
“The three participated in the treatment of the index case while the fourth person was a female patient at the time the index case was on admission.
“This brings to five the total number of patients diagnosed with the Ebola Virus Disease who have now been discharged from hospital,” it explained.
Three under Surveillance
Also, giving an update, the Lagos State Government yesterday confirmed the discharge of the four patients, but revealed that three more persons had been placed under surveillance to ascertain whether they would show symptoms of the disease.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, made the disclosure last night at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, stating: “We have four more patients that are ready to be discharged today (yesterday).
“They have gone through the same protocol. The protocol is that before we release anyone or certify him or her negative, he or she has to be symptom-free for a period of over three weeks.
“We also had to test their blood samples and the result was negative. They will be released today after they have completed their counseling being conducted by our psychosocial team. But they will come periodically for check-ups, though they are okay.
“The other three patients are still being monitored at the isolation centre. Once they get better, they will be released. The lady who ran to Enugu is still under isolation and she has tested positive to the virus.”
On those under surveillance, Idris said the new cases had been discovered. “One of them is a blood sample from Kaduna while two others are from Lagos. They are primary contacts. On the Kaduna case, the reason for this is that they do not have the laboratory to test for the virus.
“Four persons have died already, including the index case, Mr. Patrick Sawyer. We had eight in the isolation ward before Saturday when we released the doctor. This doctor was released after testing negative and going through the WHO and CDC procedures for discharge.”
Idris maintained that there have been 12 confirmed cases, which he said included the index case, noting that all the cases that had been confirmed positive and those who had died were linked to the index case.
He also disclosed that more medical personnel had shown interest “to care for the patients. We have eight doctors and nine nurses and some health workers who have gone through training.
“We have also been joined by infectious disease experts from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). All these people have gone through training. Though the number is not enough as we need more”.
NLC Opposes Doctors’ Dismissal
But as Nigeria made inroads in its fight against the virus, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) criticised the federal government’s dismissal of resident doctors in federal hospitals.
NLC, in a statement yesterday by its president, Abdulwaheed Omar, said it was ill-advised and urged government to reconsider its stand in view of the prevailing health challenges in the coutry.
The union pointed out that no country could afford to neglect its health sector, including the personnel that work there during trying times.
It emphasised that what the country needed urgently was the recruitment of more health professionals, well equipped public hospitals, and a well organised health system capable of responding to the health concerns of Nigeria’s growing population.
“We believe the federal government was misadvised and also misled by this action. It is clearly unwarranted to sack doctors just as we are collectively faced with the challenge of the Ebola virus. It is even more dangerous to sack medical personnel in a country of over 170 million people with a ratio of one doctor to over five thousand patients.
“What the country needs urgently is recruitment of more health professionals, well equipped public hospitals, and a well organised health system, and not sacking of any category of health personnel,” the NLC said.
It urged the federal government to carry out an urgent audit of the public health sector to determine the state of the sector in terms of equipment, personnel and funding.
“While workers and indeed all Nigerians are at great risk and require adequate protection, those in the medical sector should particularly be sufficiently equipped and given incentives to guarantee their safety and boost morale.
“No country can afford, especially in these trying times, to neglect its health sector, including the personnel that work there,” the statement added.
Doctors Protest
The NLC’s position was given fillip by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Lagos and Ondo States whose members embarked on peaceful protests against the government’s sack of the resident doctors.
Lagos State NMA chairman, Dr. Tope Ojo, who led his colleagues on the protest at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said a reversal of the mass sacking was the only thing that could make discussions with government continue on the strike.
He said this was an important step for NMA to continue to dialogue with the government, adding that doctors should not feel threatened by the sack.
Ojo said doctors were not asking for an increment in their salary but a better healthcare delivery system.
“The country’s universal health coverage is inadequate as it only covers 30 per cent of the people. We want this for everybody, irrespective of age and class in the society,” he added.
The NMA chair also urged the government to lift the ban on residency training so that medical education can continue to grow like those of the United Kingdom and the US.
Also speaking, the Second Vice President, Lagos State branch of NMA, Dr. Olusegun Akinwotu, said resident doctors constituted about 60 per cent of the medical workforce, adding that sacking them would mean killing the patients who require their services.
“Also government’s handling of the issue is not encouraging as resident doctors join consultants during surgery. They also impart knowledge on to house officers,” he said.
Speaking to the protesters, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of LUTH, Prof Akin Osibogun, represented by the hospital’s Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Prof Chris Bode, said they should go about their complaints peacefully.
He said the situation called for sober reflection and moderation. “We are doctors and it is expected of us to be of high moral conduct. We must not constitute a danger to the public,” Osibogun said.
NMA presented a letter stating their demands to the CMD for onward transmission to the health minister.
Similarly, doctors in Ondo State under the auspices of NMA demanded the recall 16,000 resident doctors sacked by the federal government before they could return to the negotiating table with the government to end their strike.
The chairman of the state chapter, Dr. Bamidele Betiku, said the decision of the federal government would make the country lack specialised doctors and make adequate healthcare delivery elusive to the masses.
The doctors, who marched from the NMA secretariat along Igbatoro Road to the governor's office in Alagbaka, Akure, sang solidarity songs while the protest lasted.
Also, the Cross River State chapter of NMA equated the sack of the resident doctors with the closure of all federal medical institutions in the country.
NMA in the state said the sacking of the resident doctors, by implication, was the consequential sack of about 64,000 of its members.
Chairman of the NMA in the state, Dr. Calistus Enyuma, a consultant pediatrician, at a press briefing in Calabar, said: “As it stands, the federal government suspended the training of resident doctors; that means the government has closed down teaching hospitals, closed down medical schools, and the implication is that you have sacked over 64,000 doctors throughout Nigeria.
“It happened during the (Muhammadu) Burari regime in 1984 and we had the brain drain and you can guess what will happen in the next few months.”
On the current strike embarked on by the NMA, he said: “Our appeal to the federal government is to negotiate with the NMA to bring sanity to the health sector.”
EU Border Agency Suspends Migrant Flights
In a related incident, the European Union (EU) border agency, Frontex, said yesterday it had suspended flights taking migrants back to Nigeria.
“We have decided to indefinitely suspend those flights that we coordinate and co-finance to Nigeria,” Frontex spokeswoman, Ewa Moncure told AFP.
The Warsaw-based agency only handles around two per cent of all flights carrying migrants who have crossed into the EU back home. The EU countries in question handle the rest.
Last year, 160,000 such migrants were sent back to their home countries, mainly to Albania, India, Pakistan and Russia.
“Certain countries, notably Austria, have taken a similar decision” to suspend flights to countries affected by the deadly Ebola virus, Moncure said.
The current Ebola outbreak, the worst since the virus first appeared in 1976, has claimed 1,145 lives including four in Nigeria.
WHO: All Outbound Travellers Must be Screened
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised authorities in countries struck with Ebola to screen all travellers departing at international airports, seaports and major border crossings.
A statement issued by the UN health agency recommended that people with any sign of the virus should be stopped from travelling.
The agency reiterated that the risk of getting infected with Ebola on an aircraft was small and said there was no need for wider travel or trade restrictions, reported the Reuters news agency.
“Affected countries are requested to conduct exit screening of all persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings, for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection.
“Any person with an illness consistent with EVD should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation,” the statement said.
Nigeria’s health minister had on August 7 announced that all outbound passengers from the country would be screened.
The precautionary measure was taken after the disease was imported into Nigeria from Liberia on July 20.
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