The Lagos State Government on
Sunday said it was finalising
arrangements to deploy some health
workers who had helped in the
containment of the Ebola Virus
Disease (EVD) in the state to Sierra
Leone .
The Governor, Babatunde Fashola,
made the announcement in Ikeja while
speaking at a programme to
commemorate the 2,700 Days of his
administration in office.
The governor said the health workers
were to replicate the state’s virus
containment strategies in the Sierra-
leone with a view to assisting the
Ebola-hit country overcome the health
crisis.
Fashola said although Nigeria was, as
of now, free from the disease, there
was still the risk of new infections from
cross-border movements.
He, therefore, said the state’s planned
mission to Sierra Leone was not only
to assist the country to overcome the
great health challenge, but also reduce
the risk of the disease to countries
within the sub-region.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports
that Sierra Leone accounts for a
substantial number of the over 4,000
global Ebola deaths.
“Lagos is free from Ebola, Nigeria is
free from Ebola. But that does not
mean there cannot be another case.
For as long as people are moving from
countries to countries ,the risk of
infections is still there.
‘That is why I appeal to the Federal
Government to continue to scrutinise
people travelling into Nigeria from
land,sea and air from regions where
the problem is still ravaging.
“That is why some of the things the
commissioner for health will be
announcing very soon is the
arrangements we are making to send
some of our health workers and
volunteers to go and help out in Sierra
Leone.
“That is the only way we ,the whole of
Africa and the World can be safe.”
Fashola expressed optimism that EVD,
just like other infectious diseases like
Cholera that had once ravaged
humanity without remedy, would soon
get a cure.
He said Nigerians needed not live in
fear of the disease coming back into
the country but urged them to take
precautions that would guard against
new infections in the country.
Fashola said the state government had
taken a number of initiatives to prevent
a return of Ebola in the state.
Some of the strategies, according to
him, include the deployment of
screening equipment to schools and
hospitalsand the constructon of
sanitary facilities in schools.
Others are training and retraining of
personnel on infectious diseases
diagnosis and the sensitisation of
residents on how to be safe from the
problem.
Fashola also announced that he had
appointed Dr Oluwakemi Sekoni his
Scientific Adviser as a move to
enhance better response to Ebola
disease and other infectious ailments.