Maku had on April 2, 2014, ever before Sawyer came into
Nigeria, after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, told
Nigerians that the country was prepared for any exigency in case the
virus creeps into Nigeria.Just two months before the arrival of Patrick Sawyer to Nigeria; a quick google search for “Ebola vaccine” at the time Patrick got infected will tell you why anyone with Ebola would have booked the next flight to Nigeria.
Our minister of information, Labaran Maku had on April 2nd, two months earlier publicized that Nigeria was ready for Ebola and the Ministry had procured vaccines for Ebola.
According to him: Of course, Nigeria could and should have vaccines for Ebola. We can afford to have sponsored local and even chartered foreign research companies and paid them to develop these vaccines for Africa 10 years ago, had it been we had our heads on right and thought about people over private jets.
Quoting Mr. Maku in the media: “Nigeria is ready, because the Ministry
has taken every precaution, including getting the vaccines and medicines
in case there was any incident in Nigeria. So far, there is nothing
like Ebola fever in Nigeria, and Council was reassured that every step
has been taken to ready our country just in case, infected persons come
into the country from our neighbouring countries,” Mr. Maku said. (premium Times of April 2nd,2014)
However, by the time Sawyer brought the EVD into Nigeria from Liberia on Julu 20 and eventually died on July 25, there was neither the medicine nor vaccine to curtail the ailment.
In fact, none had been developed worldwide.
It was only two weeks ago that an American company developed ZMapps, which is still in its experimental stage and not yet ready for mass production or usage, when two American became infected in Liberia.
And just two days ago also, Onyebuchi also announced that another drug, Nino Silva, has been developed by a Nigerian contagious disease expert, Dr. Simon Agwale.
Owing to this, a major critic of the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration, Peregrino Brimah, of Every Nigerian Do Something, on Friday said Maku’s statement on the availability of a cure drug for the EVD must have encouraged Sawyer to slip into Nigeria to find a solution to his ailment.
The Ebola epidemic is moving faster than the authorities can handle and could take six months to bring under control, the medical charity MSF said.
MSF is a humanitarian-aid non-governmental organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said on Friday that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa may take at least six months to be brought under control. Speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, MSF President, Joanne Liu, said the situation was “deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to.”
However, by the time Sawyer brought the EVD into Nigeria from Liberia on Julu 20 and eventually died on July 25, there was neither the medicine nor vaccine to curtail the ailment.
In fact, none had been developed worldwide.
It was only two weeks ago that an American company developed ZMapps, which is still in its experimental stage and not yet ready for mass production or usage, when two American became infected in Liberia.
And just two days ago also, Onyebuchi also announced that another drug, Nino Silva, has been developed by a Nigerian contagious disease expert, Dr. Simon Agwale.
Owing to this, a major critic of the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration, Peregrino Brimah, of Every Nigerian Do Something, on Friday said Maku’s statement on the availability of a cure drug for the EVD must have encouraged Sawyer to slip into Nigeria to find a solution to his ailment.
The Ebola epidemic is moving faster than the authorities can handle and could take six months to bring under control, the medical charity MSF said.
MSF is a humanitarian-aid non-governmental organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said on Friday that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa may take at least six months to be brought under control. Speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, MSF President, Joanne Liu, said the situation was “deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to.”
Also, World Health Organisation had said the scale of the outbreak appeared to be “vastly underestimated” and that “extraordinary measures” were needed.
The epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
On Friday, the death toll rose to 1,145
after WHO said 76 new deaths had been reported in the two days to August
13. There have been 2,127 cases reported.
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