Ebola: Lagos Now Fully Prepared For Patients, Says Fashola

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Friday said that the state is now fully equipped to handle patients with symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease.

The governor, who spoke during an early morning inspection visit to the isolation ward prepared for such patients, said the facility is ready for use.

Flanked by the Commissioners for Health, Dr Jide Idris; Special Duties, Dr Wale Ahmed; and Special Adviser on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina, the Lagos governor told journalists that the state has a health challenge on its hands and owes it a duty to prevent an outbreak of Ebola.

Fashola, who interacted with some of the health workers, expressed appreciation for the work they are doing.

Governor Fashola, who also expressed delight at the report that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has called off its nationwide strike action, expressed the hope that medical doctors would come and sign up in the battle against the disease.

He emphasized that the Ebola Virus Disease, as devastating as its consequences can be, is not an automatic death sentence, explaining that the consequence of death would depend on what is done and what is not done.

He stressed that there are already reported cases of patients who are recovering in other parts of West Africa and that the issue is about being able to respond to it appropriately and taking precautions.

Fashola also spoke on other measures to keep the state safe from Ebola.

He said: “We are also taking precautions and that is also why we did not go into where the patients are because there is a very strict protocol for going there. So if you are going there, you must wear a fully protected gown.

“In the place where we are expanding to ensure that we are able to cope with anything that comes, you would see the shower there; people have to go through a protocol, one way in, one way out. That is why you cannot go into where patients are now unless you are fully protected appropriately and unless you walk through the mandated process for going in and for coming out.

“Those who are detoxifying and decontaminating, they don’t go in. They are waiting outside and those who go in do so under a very rigorous protocol set up with advice from the Centre for Disease Control.  Provisions have already been made so that we can separate very critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms, but who need to be in isolation.

“Now from what the Centre for Disease Control told me yesterday, there is no known cure, but if it is known and diagnosed early, patients can make full recovery because here you can give them very intense medical care which involves managing their waste, managing their body fluids, giving them antibiotics and fluids to rehydrate their body and to ensure that their immune system is able to find a standing chance to combat and make full recovery as we have seen in some parts of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“Secondly, if such people get to the hospital early and treated, the disease could be contained. The risk in not doing that could be far reaching and for that we must be thankful that the hospital acted professionally and reported that case”.

Gov. Fashola urged private hospitals to develop a first line of defence immediately on how to handle Ebola cases.