The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), yesterday, said cases of the Ebola virus may escalate in the country as majority of the health personnel working on the management, monitoring and surveillance have been sacked.
NMA warned about the risk of the deadly virus spreading at an alarming rate following the sack of 16,000 resident doctors, most of whom were said to be involved in the move to contain the virus.
The NMA said the doctors, although on strike, had made their services available to government in the bid to combat Ebola.
The association vowed not to resume talks with government until it unconditionally reverses the sack of the doctors.
The Chairman, Lagos State branch of the NMA, Dr Tope Ojo, who disclosed the association’s stand in Lagos, yesterday, said all attempts by government to divide the NMA would be resisted by the association.
“This sack action must have proven the unrepentant hatred of Mr. President and the Federal Government for doctors, considering that since this current regime, several unions have embarked on industrial actions for even longer periods, that witnessed several failed negotiations too, before eventual resolution and same punitive actions were never applied,” the NMA said at a press conference.
The body, however, urged its members to keep volunteering in the management of Ebola.
“This would further worsen the current Ebola scourge because a large majority of volunteers involved in case management and other levels of the Ebola Emergency Response Committee are resident doctors,” Ojo said.
“However, we will continue to participate in the Ebola Response as we have been doing, in spite of the purported sack, so as not to become insensitive to the plight of Nigerians like the Federal Government is demonstrating presently”.
Meanwhile, Lagos State government, yesterday, said there was no death of any person infected with Ebola at the Alimosho General Hospital, Igando or any of its hospitals, as rumoured across several media.
In a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Ibirogba, the state government dispelled the rumour making the rounds that an Ebola infected person had died at the government owned hospital in Alimosho.
He said the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, addressed the issue during the last Ebola update press briefing, where he assured residents of Lagos that the hospital was safe and medically sound for them to patronize.
As part of the measures to contain the spread of Ebola, the state government, through the Ministry of the Environment, (MOE), also yesterday, trained about 800 health workers and volunteers in all the 57 local governments and local council development areas on preventive measures.
Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, who made the disclosure at a sensitisation campaign tagged: “Train the trainers’ Educative programme”, also said that government would not hesitate to invoke any relevant section of the laws on anyone who flouts the environmental laws.
The commissioner warned residents to desist from unsafe and unhealthy practices so as not to contract EVD, urging them not to attempt hiding persons with suspected symptoms of Ebola as government has the right to quarantine or isolate such persons to prevent the disease from spreading.
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