Nigeria’s Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday said President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the immediate release of N200m to Lagos State Government as Federal Government’s direct support to the state in its efforts aimed at containing the spread of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease.
He also said he had written to a Canadian firm to see whether it can extend another trial drug, TKM Ebola, to Nigeria.
Chukwu disclosed this while giving State House correspondents update on the virus at the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
He was joined at the press conference by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku; Minister of State, Power, Muhammed Wakil; Minister of State, Health, Khaliru Alhassan; and the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Emeka Eze.
The minister said any drug received would be made to pass through the nation’s Health Ethics Committee before it would be administered on any patient.
He said, “Presently, we have not stopped requesting for drug, I have requested from a company in Canada and a lot of Nigerians including the High Commissioner in Nigeria to Canada are making that request to see whether the other drug being manufactured in Canada called TKM Ebola would also be extended to Nigeria”.
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