Ebola: FG Raises Team to Prevent Outbreak of Deadly Virus

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yes­terday got a briefing from the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, on Nigeria’s preparedness to confront a possible outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, with cases already reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Adewole said a 10-man emergency team compris­ing frontline medical work­ers, has been constituted by his Ministry to be on stand­by for immediate deploy­ment and response to any part of Nigeria that should report any case of the dis­ease.
He said “what we need to do is to step up prepared­ness at all our borders: land, sea and air, to ensure that we could quickly identify a probable case, offer addi­tional screening and quar­antine so that we do not get Nigerians with Ebola.
“The Acting President directed that we should step up all activities at the border points and I did visit the port health services at Nnamdi Azikiwe Interna­tional Airport to confirm that surveillance activities are ongoing.
“We have constituted an Ebola preparedness work­ing group chaired by chaired Dr. Basanyi who actually led the Nigerian contingent to Liberia for the ebola control programme.”
He said the efforts to contain the disease were being funded from normal budgetary allocations but if any outbreak occurs and the need arises, more funds could be solicited.
On meningitis outbreak, the minister disclosed that reported cases have dropped in the 19th week since the outbreak although there is still a challenge in the treatment of the infected after initial difficulties in properly diagnosing them.