Ebola: 2 hospitals designated isolation centres in Abuja
Though there are no confirmed cases of outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the FCT, two hospitals, the National Hospital and Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital have been designated as centers to handle and isolate patients should the need arise.
Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, who revealed this at the opening of an orientation course for FCT area councils’ primary health care workers, said there are 1,712 Ebola cases, out of which 922 have been confirmed in the world with only seven persons in Nigeria, among whom one person has died.
He said the workshop is aimed at training FCT health workers on how to protect themselves because once infected, their families will also be infected in a chain transmission, if care is not taken.
Dr. Mohammed said disease surveillance officers, HODs of health will be involved in the train the trainers workshop which will educate them on the symptoms of Ebola and how to handle patients should there be any outbreak of the disease, which he added, has no cure.
He said there are porous borders apart from the designated official borders with neighbouring countries, which allows for people infected with the dreaded disease to come into Nigeria, hence the need to educate and sensitise the public on ways of checking the spread of the disease.
Also speaking, Dr. Hadiza S. Balarabe, FCT Director, Public Health Department, said school principals will be engaged to sensitise school nurses also, while a sensitization will be done for workers when they resume from the strike.
She said Personal Protection Equipments have been provided for 21 hospitals in the FCT as well as engaging area councils on the use of safety equipments to ensure decontamination.