Ebola: FG requests trial drug from US

•Urges Nigerians to avoid handshake •Says disease a national emergency •No law bars govt from quarantining anyone. The Federal Government has written to the United States Centre for Disease Control requesting the trial drug administered on two doctors infected there. Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu disclosed this to State House correspondents today after the Federal Executive […]

•Urges Nigerians to avoid handshake

•Says disease a national emergency
•No law bars govt from quarantining anyone.

The Federal Government has written to the United States Centre for Disease Control requesting the trial drug administered on two doctors infected there.

Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu disclosed this to State House correspondents today after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo.

He said: “We have written to the US and we are hoping that they will reply us on whether we can have access to the drug. We have requested it”.

The minister, who said the council devoted its meeting to measures being taken to contain the spread of ebola virus, declared that Nigeria currently has a national emergency as everyone is at risk.

“We have a national emergency. Everyone is at risk. Nobody is immune. The experience of Nigeria has alerted the world. It just takes one individual to travel by air to the remotest part of the world to spread ebola virus”, Chukwu said.

Describing the virus as both contagious and infectious, Chukwu asked Nigerians to avoid physical contact with those infected.

He specifically minister advised  ordinary Nigerians to avoid unnecessary handshake, saying if they must shake hands, they should wash their hands and use hand sanitisers.

“For the ordinary members of the public, if you don’t need to give handshake, don’t bother (doing so). If you must shake hands, wash your hands and use sanitisers.  Members of the general public don’t need to use hand gloves because you cannot use it often. Only health personnel should wear it because they are the most vulnerable”, he said.

He said the government was urgently embarking on recruiting additional health personnel to manage the situation, especially in Lagos.

He added that the Federal Government was also making arrangements to procure isolation tents in all states of the federation.

The minister said the government was hiding the names of those infected in order to avoid stigmatisation.

Chukwu, who said the government had met all the demands of the striking doctors, appealed to them to resume work in view of the current emergency situation.

Speaking further, the minister said the government has the constitutional right to quarantine anyone as part of measures to contain the spread of any disease.