20th October, 2014
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, on Monday said the success recorded by Nigeria in the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was by all standards phenomenal.
Idris spoke in Ikeja while reacting to the World Health Organisation’s declaration of Nigeria as Ebola-free.
He also announced a N50 million support to First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, where the index case, Mr Patrick Sawyer died, to assist it bounce back to business.
The commissioner said that the containment success was unique because the country’s case was the first urban case in decades.
He said that the consequences could have been very disastrous if the country had not deployed creative, results-oriented strategies in the containment of the disease.
According to Idris, the effective response of the Federal Government and the state government to the disease ensured that the country had the lowest cases and the lowest number of deaths.
The commissioner said out of the no fewer than 9,000 cases globally, Nigeria only had 20 cases, representing 0.22 per cent of all cases.
He also said the country, with its effective intervention, also recorded eight deaths, representing 0.8 per cent of the no fewer than 4,500 global deaths.
Idris congratulated Nigeria on the certification, adding that the development should encourage all stakeholders to redouble their efforts and protect the country’s new status by eliminating the risk of new infections.
“Today is a milestone in the containment effort by the Lagos State Government in concert with the Federal Ministry of Health and other organisations such as the WHO.
“But things cannot be taken for granted as long as the outbreak is still ravaging the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“We need to continually be on the alert and ready to protect our status as Ebola-free nation.
“The business is not only that of the health work force but that of all citizens,” he said.
Idris however said the containment success did not come by chance; but came mainly because of the health and emergency structures and facilities that had been in place in the state.
He listed some of the structures and initiatives as the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, the Ministry of Health Monitoring Unit, the state`s Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).
The commissioner said the relevant laws such as the State`s Public Law, The Coroner and Cremation Law among others also helped in the successful containment of the virus.
Idris said the state government would continue to strengthen the various health structures to ensure that the disease was gone forever.
“We spent the early part of our intervention in containing the disease and reducing deaths. We will however not disband the structures put in place but rather sharpen their effectiveness and efficiency,” he said.
The commissioner said the government would be supporting the survivors of the disease to get on with their lives after their horrific battles with the disease.
He said the state would deploy health workers to Sierra-Leone to help the country manage and overcome its Ebola crisis.