Ebola Virus: First Patient Discharged From Hospital Health Minister Confirms
The female doctor who was first confirmed to have Ebola Disease being the Female Doctor who attended to Late Patrick Sawyer has been discharged from the Hospital after she was declared free from the Ebola virus, the Health Minister Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu made this known in Press Briefing yesterday.
According to the Minister he said that confirmed cases of Ebola in Nigeria is now 12 as four Persons has died due to the Ebola Virus Disease.
Chukwu said that 189 persons are under surveillance in Lagos while 6 are are also under surveillance in Enugu while adding that; “the patients under treatment have now been moved to the new 40-bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos State government and at present five of the confirmed cases of EVD have almost fully recovered”.
On the issue of Nano Siver Drug he said; “It would be recalled that, last Thursday, it was announced that the federal government was ready to deploy an experimental drug named Nano Silver, if it was cleared by the National Health Research Committee. Although the drug has since last Thursday been made available to the Emergency Operations Centre in Lagos, it had not been administered to any patient because we were awaiting clearance by the National Research Ethics Committee.”
“However, it is with great regret that I inform you that the drug did not meet the requirements of the National Health Research Ethic Code. Accordingly, approval of its use has been withheld by the National Health Research Ethics Committee,” the Minister said.
However he said hope is not lost as other drugs are at the moment being evaluated by the Treatment Research Group for EVD as he said; “As soon as any of the experimental drugs is cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee and is made available, we shall include it in the treatment regimen subject to the informed consent of the patient.”
“The federal government has heard their complaints and I can assure you we are doing everything necessary so that their complaints would be met. It is only natural for them (family and friends) to be anxious and agitated. No one prays to lose a loved one. Now that Lagos State has provided a better isolation unit, it would be more conducive, and care and services would be better.
“The health workers that have come out to volunteer in this crisis are to be commended for their effort. Words cannot emphasise how much effort and energy they have put in the quick recovery of patients as well as monitoring any leads of Ebola crisis. They are really working hard.”
