Get ready for Ebola, Rivers warns Abia, others

The Rivers State Government has called on neighbouring states like Abia and Imo to start preparation for the management of the Ebola Virus Disease should it break out within their domains.



The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, gave the advice while speaking in a telephone interview. He said it was necessary for governments in states close to Rivers to begin to sensitise their people.

Also speaking on the recent visit to the state by the health commissioners of Imo and Abia states, Parker said the government officials were in the state to understudy the management of the EVD.

Apart from understudying the management of the disease in Rivers, Parker pointed out that Dr. Edward Ihejirika (Imo) and his counterpart from Abia, Dr. Okechukwu Ogah, were also on a solidarity visit following the outbreak of EVD in Rivers.

Parker said, “We have told our neighbouring states that they have to start preparing; they have to start training their manpower and start sensitising them.

“They (commissioners) are doing the right thing by coming to us to see what we are doing, just as we went to Atlanta then. This is the time to start training their manpower to build capacity.”

He added, “They visited the treatment, quarantine and isolation centres in Emohua. We had a fruitful discussion that will be useful to them and all of us, particularly in contact tracing. We have to collaborate. In case there is need for any cross or inter-state contact tracing, it will be easy for us to use common resources to tackle them.”

Parker further said the 18-month-old child that was quarantined last week after being suspected to have contracted the EVD had tested negative again after undergoing a second test.