The Lagos State Government has disclosed that two out of the five persons currently being treated for Ebola Virus disease at the isolation ward in Lagos are in critical conditions.
The Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr. Jide Idris, who made this known to journalists at a press conference in Alausa, urged religious bodies to cancel all forms of meetings and crusade that would involve large congregation in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
Idris, who also confirmed the death of the nurse that attended to the Liberian Ebola victim, Patrick Sawyer, assured that the government was doing all that is necessary to care for both those in isolation and under critical situation.
He said: “ Based on contact tracing arising from the index case that came into the country from Liberia, a total of 70 persons were monitored and of these eight have been admitted and their blood samples taken. Result of five out of the eight blood samples taken have been received with four testing positive while the fifth was negative.”
The Commissioner gave the challenge government was facing as being that of getting the requisite infrastructure needed to address the developing situation, while he noted that effort were still ongoing to address the situation.
Idris said the development has triggered the urgent need for volunteers, especially contact trackers, case management personnel, including doctors, nurses, environmental health workers, phlebotomists with experience and expertise in infectious disease control.
He gave the assurance that the government was willing to take care of such volunteers in the area of safety to personal health and life insurance cover.
“I once again allay the fears of health workers who have the requisite expertise needed to manage these confirmed and probable cases. The bottom line is that if we cannot provide the requisite quality and quantity of health workers needed for the management of these cases, outsiders would find it difficult to come in and help as is the case of scarce human resource in health settings,’’ he said.
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