The Federal Executive Council
(FEC) has directed the federal ministry of health to step up surveillance at
all entry points in the country to prevent the return of Ebola.
Briefing journalists at the end
of the council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday,
Isaac Adewole, minister of health, said FEC ordered that steps to be taken to
keep the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from coming to
Nigeria.
Adewole said that part of the new
measures to be taken include screening passengers coming into the country,
while stating that that the government is determined to keep the country safe.
He said: “Of course, of great
concern to the federal executive council is the outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo.
As you might be aware, over the last one month, DRC recorded 19 suspected cases
of viral hemorrhagic fever and lost 16 of the cases.
“But, what is also particularly
important was that, on Monday, blood samples were drawn from five patients in
the DRC, particularly in a particular district in DRC, two of the five cases,
Ebola was actually confirmed. FEC has now directed the federal ministry of help
to step up emergency surveillance activities at all land and airport borders,
so that we can actually keep Nigerians safe.
“What we will do is to set up an
emergency operation center which will be chaired by Dr. Babasanya, who actually
led our efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea during the outbreak in
2014. Not only that, we will be screening incoming passengers, particularly
passengers from DRC and neighbouring countries. We will also ensure we step up
all activities screening people coming in so that we will not be caught
unawares.
“Nigerian Center for Disease
Control (NCDC) will also consider sending some team to DRC as part of building
capacity for managing the outbreak. We want to assure Nigerians that the
federal government is concerned about the outbreak and will do everything
possible to keep the country safe.”
Nigeria experienced an Ebola
outbreak in 2014, leading to the deaths of eight persons — most notably Stella
Adedavoh, a medical doctor.
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