Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Ebola: Jonathan summons govs as another nurse tests positive

President Goodluck Jonathan has summoned all the 36 state governors and their health commissioners   to an urgent meeting on the outbreak of the Ebola Virus disease in the country.
Jonathan, who made this known during a conference organised by the Interfaith Initiative For Peace in Abuja on Monday, said it was “unfortunate that one mad man” brought the virus to Nigeria.
Before he spoke, the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, had disclosed at a news   conference that Nigeria had recorded another   Ebola case, the 10th so far.
The case involves   a nurse, who is one of the health workers that managed Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American in a Lagos hospital that brought the deadly virus to Nigeria on July 20. He died on July 25 and is the first known Ebola index case in the country.
The matron of the Lagos hospital   died last week at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos where the   seven other   known Ebola cases are being managed by experts.
The meeting between Jonathan, governors and health commissioners   will hold at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
The President, who was   responding to some children who had during their presentation during the conference, explained that the meeting revued up Federal Government’s efforts aimed at containing the spread of the EVD.
He promised that his administration would do everything humanly possible to contain the emergency health situation posed by the virus in the country.
Jonathan said, “As a government, we promise we will do everything possible to contain Ebola.
“We are doing our best, on Wednesday I am going to meet with all the governors of the states. They will come with their Commissioners   for Health.
“We must make sure that every state is prepared, where they lack, the Federal Government will support them   in containing the Ebola virus.
“It is unfortunate that one mad man brought the Ebola virus to us; but we have to contain it. This is a good forum that we will use to also plead with our religious leaders to, in their preachings communicate clearly   because people listen to you more than they listen to politicians.”

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