The Nigerian government has prohibited the transportations of corpses from one state to another as well as from another country to Nigeria as a strong measure to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading beyond Lagos.
The Minister of State for Health, Kairu Alhassan, told a traditional leaders stakeholders meeting in Kano on the polio eradication, that government decided to make sure that all dead bodies were buried wherever they died so that the chances of transporting the problems either from within or outside would be curtailed.
Mr. Alhassan explained that there was no dispute between Nigeria and America over the issue of drugs. He said that as it was, the Americans were using what they had on their people on trial basis, and there was no way Nigeria would accept and give what was inauthentic to its citizenry.
The minister also denied that Nigerians were banned from participating in the 2014 Hajj operation by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because of the outbreak of the Ebola virus in some West African countries.
He clarified that Saudi Arabia had declared that three countries hit by the virus were banned from the Hajj, “but any speculation that Nigeria is part of that is uncalled for and has never happened”.
The minister said Ebola was imported into Nigeria by an African-American person from Liberia and that was why Nigeria was not part of the three countries talked about.
Mr. Alhassan also denied rumours that the disease had spread beyond Lagos. He said the Federal Government had so far managed to stop the spread of the disease and even in Lagos strong measures had been put in place to protect the people there.
“That is why I told you that as of now, we have 135 cases at hand and we are giving them the serious attention they deserve,” he said.
The Minister warned Nigerians against using salt and other variables as medicine against the Ebola virus.
He said no medical outfit had certified the use of salt and that it was harmful; hence the reported hospitalisation of some people who used it.
“The public should not worry too much about the virus. They should only be wary of all the things that were highlighted to them; like washing hands, removing dirt, stopping eating bush meat and other similar problems,” he said.
Mr. Alhassan disclosed that right now, 95 per cent of those affected by the virus were doctors, and it was clear that the problems were still within the control of the Nigerian Government.
He said sufficient funds and all necessary logistics were being provided to tackle the disease.
On the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, the Minister disclosed that government had reached an agreement with the association only for some factions to go away saying they did not recognise the agreement.
“But to the best of our knowledge they have called off the strike. Whatever happens is an internal wrangling which is above the Federal Government and has nothing to do with us,” he said.
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