NIGERIA: Lagos State Prepares Patients’ Isolation Ward
The Lagos State government has prepared an Isolation ward for patients with symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease, to enable health workers contai...
http://www.africaeagle.com/2014/08/nigeria-lagos-state-prepares-patients.html
The Lagos State government has prepared an Isolation ward for patients with symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease, to enable health workers contain the situation and reduce possible spread.
At an inspection visit to the the facility on Friday, the State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said that the facility was ready for use, as the state tackles the outbreak of Ebola disease that has claimed two lives.
The Governor told reporters that he was there to see the environment in which the health workers handling the situation were working, the level of preparation and their level of protection.
“The State has a health challenge on her hands and the administration is concerned about the people in terms of their well-being and for the people who have taken leadership to help in containing it.
Not A Death Sentence
Also with the Governor were, the Commissioners for Health, Dr Jide Idris, Special Duties, Dr Wale Ahmed and Special Adviser on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina.
The Governor, who interacted with some of the health workers met on ground, expressed appreciation for the work they were doing.
He emphasised that the Ebola Virus Disease was devastating, stressing, however, that contracting it is not an automatic death sentence.
“The consequences of death would depend on what is done and what is not done,” he said.
He stressed that there were already reported cases of patients who are recovering in other parts of West Africa and that the issue was about being able to respond to it appropriately and taking precaution.
“We are also taking precaution 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 advise from the centre for disease control and then people who are not critically ill and stuffs, where they go and how we are going to be disposing off their refuse and their waste have been worked out. Provisions have already been made there so that we can separate very critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation,” Governor Fashola said.
Fashola said that provisions had also been made to separate critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation.
The governor pointed out that the first defence against the virus was to prevent it from spreading; stressing that once that is done, then the health authorities are on the way towards coming out of it.
“From what I hear following a long discussion I heard with the leadership of the Centre for Disease Control in Washington yesterday, I was speaking with them comparing what they were doing with what they expected us to be doing. Their personnel are here for clarity working and helping in training people,” the Governor explained.
He urged persons who feel they had had contact with an Ebola victim to ensure they do not make further contact with any member of their family.
The government is making all efforts to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained and the facility is one of the strategies aimed at reducing contact with persons with the virus.
Two new case was reported on Friday morning, increasing fears that the virus was spreading in one of Nigeria’s most populous cities, Lagos with over 20 million people.
Source: ChannelsTv
At an inspection visit to the the facility on Friday, the State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said that the facility was ready for use, as the state tackles the outbreak of Ebola disease that has claimed two lives.
The Governor told reporters that he was there to see the environment in which the health workers handling the situation were working, the level of preparation and their level of protection.
“The State has a health challenge on her hands and the administration is concerned about the people in terms of their well-being and for the people who have taken leadership to help in containing it.
Not A Death Sentence
Also with the Governor were, the Commissioners for Health, Dr Jide Idris, Special Duties, Dr Wale Ahmed and Special Adviser on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina.
The Governor, who interacted with some of the health workers met on ground, expressed appreciation for the work they were doing.
He emphasised that the Ebola Virus Disease was devastating, stressing, however, that contracting it is not an automatic death sentence.
“The consequences of death would depend on what is done and what is not done,” he said.
He stressed that there were already reported cases of patients who are recovering in other parts of West Africa and that the issue was about being able to respond to it appropriately and taking precaution.
“We are also taking precaution 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 advise from the centre for disease control and then people who are not critically ill and stuffs, where they go and how we are going to be disposing off their refuse and their waste have been worked out. Provisions have already been made there so that we can separate very critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation,” Governor Fashola said.
Fashola said that provisions had also been made to separate critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation.
The governor pointed out that the first defence against the virus was to prevent it from spreading; stressing that once that is done, then the health authorities are on the way towards coming out of it.
“From what I hear following a long discussion I heard with the leadership of the Centre for Disease Control in Washington yesterday, I was speaking with them comparing what they were doing with what they expected us to be doing. Their personnel are here for clarity working and helping in training people,” the Governor explained.
He urged persons who feel they had had contact with an Ebola victim to ensure they do not make further contact with any member of their family.
The government is making all efforts to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained and the facility is one of the strategies aimed at reducing contact with persons with the virus.
Two new case was reported on Friday morning, increasing fears that the virus was spreading in one of Nigeria’s most populous cities, Lagos with over 20 million people.
Source: ChannelsTv
