In the midst of the gloomy news that Nigeria is often associated with comes a ray of hope that the country can indeed get things right when its officials and people put their hearts to work.
This is the story emerging from the handling of Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where Nigeria’s officials have been able to contain its spread in Africa’s most populous country with over 168 million people.
This response has received huge commendations from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the international community.
Following fear and anxiety the lethality of the Ebola outbreak has generated since it came into the country through late Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, on July 20, 2014, Nigeria is racing to halt Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from spreading, including tracing individuals known to have had contact with confirmed cases, training health care professionals to identify EVD, and raising public awareness of symptoms.
This cheery news comes as contact tracing in Nigeria has resulted in a range of between 94 percent and 98 percent of contacts of EVD cases being identified and followed up, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
With Nigeria recording 12 confirmed EVD cases, this development comes as a relief and provides a window to wipe out the disease before it gets out of control, as it has in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, claiming 1,066 lives, with 1,963 EVD cases confirmed since the outbreak began in December 2013.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, minister of health, had announced yesterday that four additional confirmed cases of EVD who had been managed successfully and were now disease-free had been discharged.
“The four persons include two male medical doctors and one female nurse. The three participated in the treatment of the index case, while the fourth person was a female patient at the time the index case was on admission,” a statement from the ministry said.
This brings to five the total number of patients diagnosed with EVD who have now been discharged from hospital.
On the Federal Government’s containment efforts, Chukwu told BusinessDay that state governments were urged to institute a communication strategy to ensure mass awareness creation and sensitisation for individuals and communities on EVD in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.
Federal and state ministries of health and the human services secretariat of the FCT administration were also directed to provide adequate incentives to health workers participating in the management of EVD patients, he said.
Chukwu said Nigeria’s partnership with WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local authorities and international partners in the area of technical capacity, health facilities for isolation of EVD patients and other containment efforts was aimed at halting EVD spread.
“The Ministry of Health is procuring isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. We are also setting up a special team to provide counselling and psychosocial support to patients, identified contacts and their families,” Chukwu explained.
“189 persons are under surveillance in Lagos and six persons under surveillance in Enugu. All the persons under surveillance were secondary contacts. All the patients under treatment have now moved to the new 40-bed capacity isolating ward provided by the Lagos State government. Additional equipment has also been made available to the new isolating ward by the Federal Government,” he said.
Chika Mordi, CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria, said Nigeria has done creditably well in containing the spread of EVD in the country. While Nigeria is perceived in the international community not to have functional institutions, Mordi said the case management of EVD in Nigeria has proven that the nation has functional institutions.
He said “If you compare the way Nigeria have handled the case of EVD outbreak when compared to other Ebola affected countries within the West-African sub-region, you will agree that we have done an excellent job. We can also improved upon the success.
“You may remember that the outbreak started in Guinea and then spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Remember that the index case who brought EVD into Nigeria was visibly ill when he stopped over in Togo and yet Togo said they dont have any case of EVD. Ivory Coast which borders Guinea say they dont have EVD cases.
Don’t forget that in the last few months, Nigeria has been on the front burner on CNN and other news channels in the area of insecurity, suggesting that we don’t have functional institutions. The way we have effectively managed EVD in Nigeria suggests that the country has functional systems in place which could be improved upon.”
Another impressed observer of Nigeria’s handling of the Ebola outbreak narrated his experience at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday. He said, “I was at the airport this morning (yesterday) to see off a relation and as she went in to board, she and other passengers were screened by health officials who not only checked their temperature but asked questions like how they felt, where they had been and it was damn effective. A rare case of us doing the right thing. I was so impressed and it shows how far we can go if we do the right things.
Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, said the government was not shying away from its primary purpose of protecting and saving lives, as the state House of Assembly had approved additional expenditure to fund efforts at containing the spread of the disease.
“My view of the fact that we are gaining control is informed by verifiable facts that I receive daily from our health workers that all the cases of those who have either unfortunately died, or those who are sick, and those who are contacts under surveillance are directly traceable to the imported case. This is encouraging news from which our containment strategy can profit greatly; because it means that we do not have any case of unknown origin, which will raise the risk of an epidemic,” Fashola said.
Adebayo Onajole, director of communication and community mobilisation for Ebola in Nigeria, said the country had been able to contain the spread through increased surveillance at the country’s borders (air, land and sea), increased awareness and less of disinformation of the disease in the country.
Onajole, who is also a consultant public health physician, noted that universal health precautions and personal hygiene were currently being encouraged, a situation that would halt the spread of the disease.
“Efforts are currently ongoing to scale up and strengthen all aspects of response, including contact tracking, public information and community mobilisation, case management and infection prevention and control, and coordination,” he said.
“There is now increased disease surveillance system in a bid to monitor, control, and prevent any occurrence of the disease,” he added.
Five committees have been put in place in the country to halt the spread of the disease, BusinessDay investigation reveals. These committees include contact tracing (responsible for tracing contacts of infected person), case management unit (responsible for managing established cases), and point of entry unit, which is charged with the responsibility of examining persons entering Nigeria from various borders.
Besides the Federal Government’s N1.9 billion Ebola Intervention Plan announced by President Goodluck Jonathan, Aliko Dangote, chairman, Dangote Group, announced the donation of over N150 million from Dangote Foundation for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos.
The EOC is a key part of Nigeria’s response to the outbreak of Ebola on its shores. Headed by Faisal Shuaib, a US-trained public health expert with extensive international experience, the centre serves as the engine room of national response, providing a coordinating mechanism for prevention, surveillance, patient care, tracking, data analysis and containment of the spread of the virus.
It also facilitates coordination of partners, serves as a platform to link to the medical community across the country and also internationally, especially with countries also battling the virus in West Africa.
Public health experts believe EVD can be stopped through maintaining high effective control mechanism and communication within communities on proper hygiene practice.
“We do know how to stop Ebola. Its old-fashioned plain and simple public health: find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people and do infection control in hospitals,” said Thomas Frieden, director, United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Business Day
Related stories: 5 have recovered from 12 Ebola cases
Nigeria approves use of experimental Ebola drug
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Former Anti-Corruption Chief Nuhu Ribadu defects to ruling party PDP
Ribadu registered at the Bako ward of northeastern Adamawa state capital Yola on Aug. 16, Hamidu Aji, the local chairman of the ruling party, known as PDP, said today by phone. “Ribadu was issued a PDP membership card,” he said.
A former head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ribadu, 53, ran and lost to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 as the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria. The party later merged with the Congress for Progressive Change, led by former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, and other smaller parties to form APC.
“Clearly, no party wants to lose anybody,” Lai Mohammed, spokesman for the APC, as the opposition is known, said today in a telephone interview from Lagos, the commercial capital. “But I can assure you the party is stronger than individuals.”
As head of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency from 2003 to 2007, Ribadu established a reputation for taking the fight against graft even to those with political influence. He was fired by late President Umaru Yar’Adua and he fled into exile in 2008, returning to the country after Jonathan took office two years later.
While Ribadu has worked with the Jonathan administration since his return from exile, he’s criticized the government for failing to tackle corruption. He said in April that Jonathan’s pardon of his former boss, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the ex-governor of the oil-rich Bayelsa state, on graft and money laundering charges “makes a joke of all the war against corruption.”
Ribadu’s defection to the PDP, as the ruling party is also known, is “a blow to the opposition on multiple fronts” Philippe de Pontet, Africa director at New York-based Eurasia Group, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “It is a setback for the APC’s self-promoted brand as a true alternative to the ruling party,” he said.
Bloomberg
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Ribadu's report states government stole N51 billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
Cameroon suspends all flights from Nigeria due to Ebola scare
The government of Cameroon has ordered the closure of its borders and the suspension of all flights to and from Nigeria.
This is to avoid the spread of the deadly Ebola disease into the country.
Cameroon has a border boundary of over 2, 000 kilometres in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba and Cross Rivers states in the South-South sub-region of Nigeria.
Speaking yesterday on a special programme of the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Maiduguri, the spokesman of Cameroon Foreign Affairs, Chiroumma Boukkari said the decision to shut the borders with Nigeria has become imperative, because of the fear of Ebola that is currently threatening the West African region.
According to him, “This decision on border closure and suspension of all flights to and from Nigeria is to protect the lives of Cameroonian citizens living within and outside from contracting Ebola, as Nigeria, our main trading partner in Africa had been facing since July 20, 2014 when Patrick Sawyer sneaked into the country aboard a flight with the deadly virus.”
He however, noted that the border closure and temporary suspension of flights to and from Nigeria will not last longer than a month.
“The border closures with our main trading partner will be lifted as soon as Nigeria contains the spread of the deadly viral disease. We also urge all border security agencies of the two countries to be vigilant by complying with this border closures made yesterday (Saturday) by the foreign office here in Ngaudore,” said Boukkari.
The affected border outposts in Borno state include, Kirawa, Duji, Mallam Fatori, Gamboru, Banki, Damba/Masara, Baga, Danbaure, Sigal and Jilbe, 145 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri, the state capital.
Daily Post
Related stories: 5 have recovered from 12 Ebola cases
Video - Nigeria's challenge to contain ebola
This is to avoid the spread of the deadly Ebola disease into the country.
Cameroon has a border boundary of over 2, 000 kilometres in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba and Cross Rivers states in the South-South sub-region of Nigeria.
Speaking yesterday on a special programme of the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Maiduguri, the spokesman of Cameroon Foreign Affairs, Chiroumma Boukkari said the decision to shut the borders with Nigeria has become imperative, because of the fear of Ebola that is currently threatening the West African region.
According to him, “This decision on border closure and suspension of all flights to and from Nigeria is to protect the lives of Cameroonian citizens living within and outside from contracting Ebola, as Nigeria, our main trading partner in Africa had been facing since July 20, 2014 when Patrick Sawyer sneaked into the country aboard a flight with the deadly virus.”
He however, noted that the border closure and temporary suspension of flights to and from Nigeria will not last longer than a month.
“The border closures with our main trading partner will be lifted as soon as Nigeria contains the spread of the deadly viral disease. We also urge all border security agencies of the two countries to be vigilant by complying with this border closures made yesterday (Saturday) by the foreign office here in Ngaudore,” said Boukkari.
The affected border outposts in Borno state include, Kirawa, Duji, Mallam Fatori, Gamboru, Banki, Damba/Masara, Baga, Danbaure, Sigal and Jilbe, 145 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri, the state capital.
Daily Post
Related stories: 5 have recovered from 12 Ebola cases
Video - Nigeria's challenge to contain ebola
24 reasons why Nigerian doctors are on strike
The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, an association of all medical doctors in Nigeria on July 1 embarked on a nationwide strike.
With the NMA strike, doctors working in government-owned hospitals have boycotted work, leaving majority of sick Nigerians stranded. In an open letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, on June 11, the association listed a 24 ‘minimum point’ demand which it expected government to meet before its members would return to work.
The letter was titled “Facing the Challenges in the Health Sector”. However on Thursday, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the sack of all resident doctors in Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan directed the suspension of all Residency Training Programme and the hiring of part-time medical officers to replace the doctors. The inadequate funding of the Residency Training Programme is one of the reasons the NMA is aggrieved.
Below is a list of the challenges faced by the NMA:
1. A demand that seven Deputy Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, DCMAC (four for Teaching Hospitals and three for Federal Medical Centers be appointed to assist the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, CMAC. The association noted that the CMAC is presently saddled with statutory responsibilities that are too heavy for an individual to handle. The DCMACs is expected to have the same qualifications as the CMACs. The NMA also argued that directors in other government establishments are supported by deputies and sees no reason while that of the CMACs should be different.
2. The association opposed the appointment of directors in hospitals. The position, it said, distorts the chain of command and induces anarchy while exposing patients to conflicting treatment and management directives with mostly negative consequences.
3. A demand that grade level 12 (CONMESS 2) in the health sector be skipped for medical and dental practitioners.
4. The association also demand that the title ‘Consultant’ should not be assigned to non-doctor personnel. Arguing that consultant describes the relationship between a specialist medical doctor and his patients, the association said that giving the title to a non-doctor personnel will only lead to anarchy and chaos in the system.
5. The immediate implementation of a January 3, 2014 circular and immediate payment of the arrears for 22 years during which members were short-changed. It also demand an adjustment of doctor’s salary to maintain the relativity as agreed.
6. The acceleration of the passage of the National Health Bill and extension of the Universal Health Coverage to cover 100 per cent of Nigerians rather than 30 per cent as currently prescribed by the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS.
7. Appointment of a Surgeon General of the Federation with immediate effect.
8. A correction of entry point of a health officer to CONMESS 1 Step 4 as originally contained in MSS/ MSSS while the Registrar/ Medical officer is moved to CONMESS 3 Step 3.
9. Call duty allowance for Honorary Consultants should be increased by 90 per cent.
10. An adjustment in the specialist allowance as contained in the 2009 collective bargaining agreement. Also all doctors on CONMESS 3 and above must be paid specialist allowance or its equivalent, not less than 50 per cent higher than what is paid to other health workers.
11. Hazard allowance for medical doctors must be at least N100, 000 per month. The hazard allowance for medical doctors is said to be at N5, 000 per month presently.
12. Immediate release of the circular on rural posting, teaching and other allowances which must include house officers.
13. An immediate withdrawal of a circular by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN authorizing Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, MLSCN to approve licenses for importation of In-Vitro Diagnostics, IVDs.
14. Immediate release of the circular for the retirement age for medical doctors as agreed with the Federal Government.
15. The FG through the health ministry should formalize and implement the report of the interagency committee on residency training. The FG is expected to release the uniform template on the appointment of resident doctors in line with earlier agreements. Also a concrete funding framework for residency training must be established while the overseas clinical attachment must be fully restored and properly funded in the interest of the nation.
16. That in the interest of harmony in the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, the government should pay the salaries of our members in the center as agreed on October 21, 2013.
17. Immediate concrete steps must be put in place for the reintegration of our members back into the IPPIS platform.
18. All attempts to coerce house officers not to join NARD must stop.
19. The orchestrated intimidation, harassment and physical assault of our members in the departments of pathology (Laboratory medicine) by laboratory scientists and tolerated by the Federal Ministry of Health must stop.
20. The endless circle of incomplete salary payment of our members in many hospitals in the name of shortfalls in personnel cost must stop.
21. Universal applicability of all establishment circulars on the renumeration and conditions of service for doctors at all levels of government must be granted.
22. Government should as a matter of urgency set up a health trust fund that will enhance the upgrading of hospitals in Nigeria.
23. The position of the Chief Medical Director/ Medical Director must continue to be occupied by a medical doctor as contained in the Act establishing the tertiary hospitals. This position remains sacrosanct and untouchable.
24. The NMA henceforth shall not accept the continued violation of any of any of the terms of the 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement. This is exemplified by the payment of the Medical Physicist and Optometrist with OD (who are on CONHESS) call duty allowance using CONMESS circular. Similarly, the phrase, “Ministries, Departments and Agencies”, MDAs in the said agreement should replace “Federal Ministry of Health and other Federal Health Institutions” as contained in the 2009 CONMESS circular.
Premium Times
Related stories: Patients dying as Nigeria's doctors strike continues
President Goodluck Jonathan sacks striking doctors
With the NMA strike, doctors working in government-owned hospitals have boycotted work, leaving majority of sick Nigerians stranded. In an open letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, on June 11, the association listed a 24 ‘minimum point’ demand which it expected government to meet before its members would return to work.
The letter was titled “Facing the Challenges in the Health Sector”. However on Thursday, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the sack of all resident doctors in Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan directed the suspension of all Residency Training Programme and the hiring of part-time medical officers to replace the doctors. The inadequate funding of the Residency Training Programme is one of the reasons the NMA is aggrieved.
Below is a list of the challenges faced by the NMA:
1. A demand that seven Deputy Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, DCMAC (four for Teaching Hospitals and three for Federal Medical Centers be appointed to assist the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, CMAC. The association noted that the CMAC is presently saddled with statutory responsibilities that are too heavy for an individual to handle. The DCMACs is expected to have the same qualifications as the CMACs. The NMA also argued that directors in other government establishments are supported by deputies and sees no reason while that of the CMACs should be different.
2. The association opposed the appointment of directors in hospitals. The position, it said, distorts the chain of command and induces anarchy while exposing patients to conflicting treatment and management directives with mostly negative consequences.
3. A demand that grade level 12 (CONMESS 2) in the health sector be skipped for medical and dental practitioners.
4. The association also demand that the title ‘Consultant’ should not be assigned to non-doctor personnel. Arguing that consultant describes the relationship between a specialist medical doctor and his patients, the association said that giving the title to a non-doctor personnel will only lead to anarchy and chaos in the system.
5. The immediate implementation of a January 3, 2014 circular and immediate payment of the arrears for 22 years during which members were short-changed. It also demand an adjustment of doctor’s salary to maintain the relativity as agreed.
6. The acceleration of the passage of the National Health Bill and extension of the Universal Health Coverage to cover 100 per cent of Nigerians rather than 30 per cent as currently prescribed by the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS.
7. Appointment of a Surgeon General of the Federation with immediate effect.
8. A correction of entry point of a health officer to CONMESS 1 Step 4 as originally contained in MSS/ MSSS while the Registrar/ Medical officer is moved to CONMESS 3 Step 3.
9. Call duty allowance for Honorary Consultants should be increased by 90 per cent.
10. An adjustment in the specialist allowance as contained in the 2009 collective bargaining agreement. Also all doctors on CONMESS 3 and above must be paid specialist allowance or its equivalent, not less than 50 per cent higher than what is paid to other health workers.
11. Hazard allowance for medical doctors must be at least N100, 000 per month. The hazard allowance for medical doctors is said to be at N5, 000 per month presently.
12. Immediate release of the circular on rural posting, teaching and other allowances which must include house officers.
13. An immediate withdrawal of a circular by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN authorizing Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, MLSCN to approve licenses for importation of In-Vitro Diagnostics, IVDs.
14. Immediate release of the circular for the retirement age for medical doctors as agreed with the Federal Government.
15. The FG through the health ministry should formalize and implement the report of the interagency committee on residency training. The FG is expected to release the uniform template on the appointment of resident doctors in line with earlier agreements. Also a concrete funding framework for residency training must be established while the overseas clinical attachment must be fully restored and properly funded in the interest of the nation.
16. That in the interest of harmony in the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, the government should pay the salaries of our members in the center as agreed on October 21, 2013.
17. Immediate concrete steps must be put in place for the reintegration of our members back into the IPPIS platform.
18. All attempts to coerce house officers not to join NARD must stop.
19. The orchestrated intimidation, harassment and physical assault of our members in the departments of pathology (Laboratory medicine) by laboratory scientists and tolerated by the Federal Ministry of Health must stop.
20. The endless circle of incomplete salary payment of our members in many hospitals in the name of shortfalls in personnel cost must stop.
21. Universal applicability of all establishment circulars on the renumeration and conditions of service for doctors at all levels of government must be granted.
22. Government should as a matter of urgency set up a health trust fund that will enhance the upgrading of hospitals in Nigeria.
23. The position of the Chief Medical Director/ Medical Director must continue to be occupied by a medical doctor as contained in the Act establishing the tertiary hospitals. This position remains sacrosanct and untouchable.
24. The NMA henceforth shall not accept the continued violation of any of any of the terms of the 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement. This is exemplified by the payment of the Medical Physicist and Optometrist with OD (who are on CONHESS) call duty allowance using CONMESS circular. Similarly, the phrase, “Ministries, Departments and Agencies”, MDAs in the said agreement should replace “Federal Ministry of Health and other Federal Health Institutions” as contained in the 2009 CONMESS circular.
Premium Times
Related stories: Patients dying as Nigeria's doctors strike continues
President Goodluck Jonathan sacks striking doctors
5 have recovered from 12 Ebola cases
Nigeria has 12 confirmed cases of the Ebola virus, up from 10 at last week's count, of which five have almost fully recovered, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
It said in a statement that 189 people in Lagos and six others in the southeastern city of Enugu were under surveillance. The death toll remains four, it said.
A doctor who had recovered had been discharged from hospital, the ministry said.
The Ebola virus has killed more than 1,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since the outbreak began in March, and four people have died in Nigeria since it was brought to Lagos by a Liberian man on July 20.
"Patients under treatment have now been moved to the new 40 bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos state government," the Health Ministry statement said.
It added that experimental drugs were in the process of being cleared for the treatment of Ebola, although one, nano silver, had been rejected because it did not meet requirements.
Fighting the disease in Nigeria is complicated by the fact that doctors are on nationwide strike. The ministry of health sacked 16,000 doctors on Thursday after they refused to end their strike in the midst of an Ebola epidemic.
Health care workers fighting to stop the disease in overcrowded and ill-equipped clinics often succumb to Ebola themselves. The World Health Organization says more than 170 healthcare workers have been infected and at least 81 have died.
The death toll from Ebola is still climbing and the U.N. health agency faces questions over whether it should havedeclared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" before Aug. 8.
Reuters
Related stories: Nigeria approves use of experimental Ebola drug
Video - Nigeria's challenge to contain Ebola
It said in a statement that 189 people in Lagos and six others in the southeastern city of Enugu were under surveillance. The death toll remains four, it said.
A doctor who had recovered had been discharged from hospital, the ministry said.
The Ebola virus has killed more than 1,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since the outbreak began in March, and four people have died in Nigeria since it was brought to Lagos by a Liberian man on July 20.
"Patients under treatment have now been moved to the new 40 bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos state government," the Health Ministry statement said.
It added that experimental drugs were in the process of being cleared for the treatment of Ebola, although one, nano silver, had been rejected because it did not meet requirements.
Fighting the disease in Nigeria is complicated by the fact that doctors are on nationwide strike. The ministry of health sacked 16,000 doctors on Thursday after they refused to end their strike in the midst of an Ebola epidemic.
Health care workers fighting to stop the disease in overcrowded and ill-equipped clinics often succumb to Ebola themselves. The World Health Organization says more than 170 healthcare workers have been infected and at least 81 have died.
The death toll from Ebola is still climbing and the U.N. health agency faces questions over whether it should havedeclared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" before Aug. 8.
Reuters
Related stories: Nigeria approves use of experimental Ebola drug
Video - Nigeria's challenge to contain Ebola
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