The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), yesterday, directed its members to get actively involved in the battle against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country. It also urged them to provide the needed professional expertise to ensure that the situation is brought under control as quickly as possible.

 

A statement made available to Saturday Newswatch in Abuja by its Secretary-General, Dr. Adewunmi Alayaki, directed all state branch officers to immediately liaise with their respective Commissioners for Health, Information, Housing and Urban Development, Environment and Water Resources, Education, as well as the Directors of Medical Services and Directors of Public Health with a view to fashioning out effective strategies to contain the deadly Ebola virus.

Dr. Alayaki added that traditional rulers, religious leaders, market leaders, commercial motorcycle riders and Road Transport Workers unions are to ensure dissemination of information on preventive and protective measures against Ebola virus.

Said he: “The foregoing notwithstanding, the NMA notes with sadness that doctors and nurses – the usual frontline health care givers and who mostly bear the hazards of health care – have been falling victim of the disease while in their line of duty.”

The NMA, therefore, called on governments at all levels to ensure that the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are made available to doctors and other healthcare workers to reduce the casualties and mitigate the risks the humanitarian service providers face.

 

“Government at all levels, Chief Medical Directors/Medical Directors and proprietors of private hospitals are hereby reminded that this is not the time to subject doctors and nurses, and indeed other health workers, to unnecessary hazards. The NMA, therefore, advices all doctors and nurses to insist on being well protected through provision of appropriate PPE before getting involved in the high risk components of the control processes.”

Alayaki stressed that the need to ensure that all health workers have Life Insurance cover can no longer be ignored. The recent outbreak of Lassa fever that claimed the lives of several health workers and now Ebola are clear indications, he further said.

 

“It will not be out of place for government to institute a well packaged Life Insurance policy for all health workers, particularly those involved in this battle against Ebola and other Viral Haemorrhagic Diseases.”

The statement further directed State chairmen of NMA to set up Ebola control committees that will collaborate with the State Ministries of Health, International Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations, and volunteer teams to actualize the goal of combating the Ebola disease scourge. The national body of NMA shall coordinate the efforts of its State branches.

“The lives of Nigerians are paramount to members of the NMA/Doctors and Dentists. We wish to place on record that irrespective of the on-going strike by the NMA (due to dispute with the Federal Government), the Association effectively responded to other national disasters like the bomb blasts in Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi in keeping with our commitment to attend to any disaster anywhere in the country while the strike lasts. This is in accordance with our oath of placing the lives of patients above all considerations. The same oath mandates us to do all in our powers to maintain the noble traditions of medicine, which at the moment are under serious threat in Nigeria.

 

“It is in the same vein that we are directing our members (doctors and dentists) to rise up to the Ebola disaster and mobilize massively to contain and eradicate the devastating disease in our land under adequate protection with Personal Protective Equipment.”

The NMA national office also appreciated its Lagos colleagues for their efforts so far in the battle against Ebola outbreak, saying: “We enjoin government to ensure that those under quarantine do not leave Lagos to any other part of the country during their quarantine period. While rising up appropriately to any health challenge in the country, we shall ensure that justice, sanity and lasting peace prevail in the health system of Nigeria. Government has the obligation to support us in this germane crusade.”

The association also called on Nigerians and the International community to prevail on the Federal Government to grant NMA’s request, for a speedy resolution of the impasse.