THE WAY FORWARD IN TACKLING EBOLA IN NASARAWA STATE AND NIGERIA (1)If the government is really serious in containing this Ebola virus disease, which I doubt,they should restrict movements in and out of Lagos and Rivers States for now, because the arrest of Boston bombers in USA was possible because movements were restricted. (2)The supposed government health experts should always tell the masses the truth at all times and verify all statements before granting press briefings. The hospital owned by the late doctor is a busy hospital located at the heart of Port Harcourt,Rumuokoro axis of the Garden City. All his contacts should be traced immediately. I heard he just operated on a patient a day before he died,all these facts should be objectively investigated . (3)All hospitals,private hospitals inclusive,should be provided with large number of Personal Protective Equipment. (4)When a patient in a quarantined center is discharged, before another patient is admitted, that place must be fully sterilized in accordance with WHO standards and the gloves used in touching/treating one Ebola suspected patient should not be used on another patient. The mortuary the late doctor was initially taken to, before being brought to UPTH should be decontaminated according to international best practices and all the workers at the morgue quarantined. (5) Private hospitals that alert the government about a possible case of Ebola should be financially compensated because as First Consultant Hospital is currently locked up,the management is still counting their losses and it will take many years before the average Nigerian will start patronizing the hospital. By compensating the management of First Consultants Hospital and immortalising the health workers that died in the process,it will encourage many private hospitals and other health practitioners to be more patriotic (6)Commercial bus drivers and taxi drivers should start carrying three passengers per seat and one passenger in the front seat as against the current practice of four passengers per seat and two passengers in front. This will help minimize the body contacts which is another means of contracting this virus disease. Believe me,our law enforcement agents once they collect their ‘roger’ (bribe) they will look the other way while the commercial drivers will pack their passengers like sardine . (7)Any religious leader or house that claims having any cure for the deadly Ebola virus disease should be arrested and prosecuted since when Jesus and Mohammed were on this earth,they never advertised their healing powers. Also,these religious leaders should be warned not to organise any gathering at this critical period. (8)Our legislators should immediately enact laws so that any Ebola suspect who runs away will be prosecuted after being arrested and treated. This law will ensure that all Ebola suspects will surrender themselves to the appropriate authorities and any health practitioner that treats any suspected Ebola patient without calling on the appropriate authority will be dealt with. This is exactly the case in Port Harcourt where the primary contact of the index case ran away from Lagos to Port Harcourt to be treated by the late doctor. I am sure that our legislators will not enact any law because there is no financial inducement to set them into action . The Nigerian masses should hold their leaders accountable because as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said in her book,The Purple Hibiscus,’the educated ones leave,the ones with the potential to right the wrong, they leave the weak behind. The tyrants continue to reign because the weak cannot resist. Do you not see that it is a cycle?’, I call on the human rights lawyers to rise up to this challenge as any problem created in Nigeria by our leaders will be suffered by the masses because our leaders having ‘graciously’ supervised our health sector to its present deplorable state will always travel to Germany for private visits even when a foetus that is conceived today knows that Germany is known for medical tourism.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 05:17:42 +0000
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