• Lagos searches for infected doctor’s family
The Saudi Arabia government has said it will ban pilgrims from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia from performing this year’s hajj to halt the spread of deadly Ebola virus to the holy land.
In a statement yesterday, the Saudi government said the countries would be banned from performing the hajj taking place in October by suspending issuance of visas to pilgrims from the affected West African countries for the annual hajj pilgrimage or for other visits to Muslim holy places.
This is coming as Saudi Arabia Health Ministry announced it is testing a man for suspected Ebola infection after he returned recently from a business trip to Sierra Leone.
It said the man, a Saudi in his 40s, was at a hospital in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after showing “symptoms of viral hemorrhagic fever”, which resemble symptoms of the Ebola virus.
The ministry said it had taken the precautionary measures, including isolating the patient at a specialist hospital and had sent blood samples to an international laboratory in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) for further checks.
Saudi Arabia has been on alert against the spread of the virus from West Africa, where more than 800 people have died.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has begun search for family of the female Lagos medical doctor who tested positive to the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in order to quarantine them.
Lagos Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, while addressing newsmen informed that government is working hard to establish contact with her family who might have contracted the disease.
Idris confirmed that the female doctor, whose identity is still being kept secret, is among the eight who had primary contact with Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who died of Ebola in Lagos that had tested positive for the virus.
His words, “From our activities to stem the spread of Ebola virus in Nigeria, another patient has tested positive for the virus. And the female doctor is one of the eight persons who were under critical surveillance and care for having contact with the late Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who died after been infected by the virus.
“The state has established isolation and treatment Centre to hospitalize this patient. The staff at this centre have also been trained on how to treat and handle the patients under their care. The hospital is also provided with enough facilities to ensure that the officials and other patients do not contract the virus,” he said.
Continuing, he said the patients under surveillance were those who had personal contact with the late Liberian. And the rapid response team had been in communication with those who developed fever and other symptoms.
Idris maintained that government would not stop at tracking those who had contact with the late Liberian, saying that the contacts remain in isolation until the confirmatory results were in, while those who test positive for the virus would remain in isolation until they were no longer infectious.
The commissioner noted that the occurrence of secondary cases were expected given the nature of the contact these people had with the patient from Liberia, adding that this was because they were unaware of the patient’s status until the management of the hospital informed the state government of the development.
Idris explained that given the manner of the outbreak of Ebola virus in State, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, should suspend its strike and join hands with the government to fight the Ebola scourge.
While soliciting for volunteers from the health profession, assuring that they shall be given incentives, he also appealed to residents to support the government in fighting the scourge.
Also Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi noted that government would not be able to release the name of the new victim, while debunking rumour that the patient was dead.
“The patient is not dead. She is alive. Experts from the local and international organisations are attending to the patient. She is one of the eight patients that were under intensive surveillance, tests are still ongoing on others,” he said.
However, upon the strike action, Nigerian Doctors have pledged their commitment in the fight against Ebola virus.
This was revealed by Chairman of Lagos Chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Tope Ojo, who assured that strike will not affect efforts to deter the rapid spread of the deadly virus.
“Striking is not a profession, we are medical doctors and we want to practice our profession. We want to end the strike and return to work,” he said.
Source: People’s Daily
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