9th September, 2014
Dr Faisal Shuaib, the Incident Manager, National Ebola Emergency Operation Centre (EEOC), said on Monday that Federal Government’s fight against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was highly commendable.
Shuaib told newsmen in Port Harcourt that the proactive measures taken by government and health workers’ sacrifices should be applauded by Nigerians.
“The situation in Nigeria is a far cry from the cases in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone,” Shuaib said.
Shuaib, a staff of UNICEF, said though medical experts were on ground in those countries, the residents were not as lucky as Nigerians.
He said that the survivors of the disease in Nigeria should be ‘celebrated’ for making it and explained that the best chances of survival was early report and treatment.
According to him, majority of patients that survived, came early for treatment and there must be high sense of urgency in the report and treatment of Ebola cases.
Shuaib, however, said a lot still needed to be done despite the fact that there was only one patient at the treatment centre in Rivers.
He said Nigeria must ensure that residents of the affected West African countries did not come in with the disease.
The manager said that the centre interacted with the contacts daily, and ensured that they did not escape like the ECOWAS staff did and sneaked into Port Harcourt.
Shuaib noted that there was misinformation about the disease, saying it was not water or air borne, but could be contracted through body fluid, blood, saliva, vomit, stool and urine of an infected person.