Ebola: America yet to respond to drug request – Minister

Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu yesterday said the United States has not responded to Nigeria’s request for supply of the experimental drug used for the treatment of the Ebola virus.

The minster spoke to journalists at the sidelines of the commissioning of the Defence Identification Centre at the Magadishu Cantonment, Abuja.

“We have not received any response from them, we have made the request,” he said.

“We believe they will respond to us, but we know that this is still an experimental drug, some of the data required is now being collected, but they are now using it on people.”

Two Americans who contracted the Ebola virus in West Africa were been flown home and the experimental drug has been used on them. Reports said their conditions have improved.

Chukwu yesterday said, “We are not completely sure yet of its efficacy, we are not yet completely sure if there are side effects that will outweigh its benefits.”

He said, “If it’s an experimental drug, which means it is not being produced in commercial quantities, so obviously given the demand all over the world, maybe there will be challenges about supply but we await their formal response.”

Earlier in a speech, the minister described the military DNA Identification Centre as a first of its kind in West Africa. He said it eliminates the difficulty of identifying severe damage to bodies of soldiers who die in combat.

“The establishment of the Defence Identification Centre aligns the Nigeria Military with the current best practices in combat casualty identification and provides general identification banks on serving and retired personnel,” he said.

In his remarks, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh said the establishment of the DNA data bank at the Defence Identification Centre provides accurate identification of serving personnel and their corpse in case of accidental death.