HAS EBOLA BEEN STOPPED IN ITS TRACKS IN NIGERIA? A month ago, Nigerians woke up to the fact that their country had become a veritable haven where the dreaded Ebola has taken residency, it all happened because one Patrick Sawyer –a Liberian –American suffering from the disease chose to come to Nigeria ostensibly to seek treatment and succour. Patrick Sawyer died and so far he has taken a number of Nigerians with him, notably Dr. Stella Adadevoh and a few other medical doctors who had treated him when he collapsed after having been overwhelmed by the disease, on reaching Nigeria. According to accounts, the nation owes Dr. Stella Adadevoh and her fallen colleagues at the First Foundation Hospital at Obalende, Lagos a huge gratitude for their professionalism in insisting Patrick Sawyer, having regained some strength after receiving treatment, would not proceed to Calabar, Cross River State to attend the conference which brought him to Nigeria in the first place. He will not go anywhere until the hospital confirmed what was it that ailed him. It must be said that by that singular insistence on professionalism, Nigeria has been spared a health crisis of gargantuan proportion. One need only look at what is unfolding in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and the chaos that has taken over those countries, particular as it relates to the management of the disease since its outbreak to imagine what would have happened in Nigeria had Patrick Sawyer been able to saunter dizzily out of hospital into “town”. Nigeria therefore owes Dr. Stella Adadevoh and her colleagues an infinite gratitude, first for agreeing to treat Sawyer and then on a hunch that what they suspected as his problem may be something more sinister, decided it must be investigated. These doctors could just as well have cavalierly treated their patient to stabilise him and then promptly dismiss him, as has become the practice in many hospitals, particularly government ones these days. No, they did not do that, instead they kept him until they knew what he was carrying in his body which eventually claimed his life. Dr. Adadevoh herself, according to an account, should not have been on duty that day as she was billed to be on vacation. But when she was paged, about the emergency she abandoned whatever it was that was her preoccupation on that fateful day and reported to attend to the sick and in the process paid the supreme price with her life. Considering the chicanery and cynicism that suffuse Nigeria’s affairs today this uncommon display of devotion to duty and self sacrifice may be lost on those in authority who are drunk with the pursuit of abject and selfish preoccupations. For putting their lives on the line of danger and getting consumed by it while doing their work Dr. Adadevoh and her colleagues deserve appropriate recognition by the government. Thus when the time comes for the yearly investiture of honours, these sparkling professionals should command a position high among those to be honoured because their exploits have saved Nigeria from what would have been a nightmarish health challenge whose social and economic ramifications would have been daunting, in the least. Hence nothing short of national honours would be enough as recognition for them. Government action so far on the effort to contain the spread of the virus has been spectacularly commendable. Of those that came in contact with Patrick Sawyer and others who had contact with those who treated him, just a handful of people have succumbed to the disease. Regrettably though it is, Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu’s committee charged with the containment assignment has done well. For one, it has been able to limit the virus strictly to Lagos and what’s more, to the albeit small group who had become vulnerable to the virus because of the contact with Patrick Sawyer and those that had come in contact with those ones too. Of course, there is the fear that a renewed outbreak in Enugu and now in Port Harcourt could pose their own challenges altogether. But thankfully the nurse that tested positive who disobeyed orders and went to Enugu and caused others to be put on the watch list, alongside a similar incident in Port Harcourt, have not compounded the Onyebuchi Chukwu committee assignment too much because prompt and decisive measures were taken by the governments of those states. But if people who were supposed to be under quarantine could be sauntering about as has been the case in Enugu and Port Harcourt respectively, then the word “quarantine” has lost its meaning. For the safety of the larger society, a quarantined person must be put in seclusion by force while receiving treatment or while under observation. If doing so amounts to denial of right of movement and association, so be it, after all such right of freedom of movement cannot be allowed free rein when it poses a danger to the larger society. In Liberia, quarantined residents of a Monrovia neighbourhood who broke out of bounds were forced back into their homes at gun point. Some might say it was harsh, yes, but all the same a necessary and justified action if the virus must be contained and stopped in its tracks. Not doing so could pose a graver and veritable danger to the larger society. The success in halting the spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria is remarkable, particularly when juxtaposed with the mess that lethargic governments in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have caused in those countries. Whereas in Nigeria 5 people have died including the index case- the Liberian American Patrick Sawyer and Dr. Stella Adadevoh, in these other countries mortalities have continued to mount. Still, it is hardly time for unbridled euphoria because the Eureka moment is not yet around. It is not yet time for uproarious backslapping and clinking of glasses for subduing the rage of the virus until the threats of spreading it by those who wittingly break quarantine bounds are halted. When that is effectively done then attention must be turned to helping the other countries from where Nigeria was impaled, to do battle with the virus that has turned into an epidemic there. It goes without saying that it is in Nigeria’s self interest to do that in order to remove the threat of another ssPatrick Sawyer making similar desperate effort to seek treatment here and by so doing bringing the virus here again. Most importantly however contributing to wiping out Ebola in West Africa and indeed in Africa would be in tune with Nigeria’s claim to the leadership position on the sub-region and the continent as a whole. Such an outcome would tremendously boost the image of Nigeria, already well established in peace keeping and humanitarian areas but also as it concerns specific scientific and health matters, and with it concretise its claim to the leadership position on the continent. written and compile by DEX-CANDY
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 06:47:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015