Controversy Over FGs N1.9bn Ebola Fund

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The seeming delay in the disbursement of the N1.9 billion intervention fund approved by the federal government to contain the outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus disease is generating serious controversy among states and the relevant agencies responsible for executing the master plan for which the money is meant for.

Announcing the approval of a special intervention plan to combat the virus on August 8, 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan had directed that the N1.9 billion must be released immediately for speedy implementation.

But two weeks after the approval of the said money was announced, states of the federation, especially Lagos State which is the worse hit by the deadly Ebola disease, and the relevant agencies said they had not received any money from the federal government.

Though the federal government announced N1.94 billion intervention fund to tackle Ebola Virus Disease two weeks ago, with funfare and pageantry, indications have emerged that the fund is yet to be released.

LEADERSHIP findings have revealed that the controversy seemed to be trailing the fund as concerned parties said that the money was yet to be released.

However, the Lagos State Government disclosed that it was yet to receive money from N1.9 billion intervention fund approved by the federal government to fight Ebola in the country where the disease had killed five persons.

The Lagos state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba, told our correspondent that the federal government had not given the state a dime to fight Ebola.

He said: Maybe the federal government will release funds later. But we are grateful for all the Federal government has done, giving us technical support in the fight against the virus, releasing their staff members for contact tracing, case management, operation of the emergency operation centre and the rapid response team.

This is a collaborative effort between the federal, state government and other foreign partners. As at now, we are yet to receive money from the federal government.

Ibirogba explained that the money spent so far on the health of the Ebola victims were funds released by the state governor, Babatunde Fashola to combat the disease.

But in an apparent move to address the situation which was already causing ripples in certain quarters, the federal government announced yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan had approved N200 million for Lagos State government as federal governments direct support to tackle the outbreak of the virus.

Rather than staving off the apprehension the delay in releasing the money was already causing, the approval of the N200 million for Lagos had added a deeper crisis dimension to the issue, as stakeholders were beginning to question the modality for disbursing the N200 million for Lagos State out of the N1.9 billion, raising issues over the remaining N1.7 billion.

Apart from the delay in disbursing the money as directed by the president that it should be released immediately, the approval of N200 million for Lagos alone is raising suspicion over federal governments true motive about the N1.9 billion Ebola intervention fund.

Those raising issues are contending that for the president to have refused to spell out the modality for the disbursement of the fund and the relevant bodies that should be directly involved in handling the fund when he announced its approval two weeks ago was an indication that something was amiss.

They said they were imagining what would happen to other states when only N200 million had been approved for Lagos without the federal government specifying whether the said money was part of the N1.9 billion or not.

Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu who disclosed the approval of the N200 million for Lagos, while briefing journalists at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, also hinted that the United States Government would this week donate to Nigeria 30 body scanners for measuring temperature.

Noting that the scanners were going to be deployed to ports of entry and exits in the country, he said at the moment, Nigeria had a total number of 12 cases of Ebola virus disease, including the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who was the index case.

Minister praises gallant efforts of late Dr Adadevoh

Chukwu praised the Consultant. Physician at First Consultant Hospital Lagos, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh who died due to exposure to the disease in the cause of treating the late Liberian/American, Sawyer, saying she had to physically restrain this infected person from escaping from hospital when the latter attempted to do so having been communicated that he was ebola positive.

He said: If that index case had escaped from the hospital at that stage, it would have spelt disaster for Nigeria as many more persons, who would have been very difficult to track could have become primary contacts, Chukwa said

There is no doubt that Dr. Adadevoh is not only a dedicated, committed and competent doctor but she showed rare courage, rare sense of duty, service and patriotism to her country, Chukwu said.

On plans to immortalise Adadevoh, the Minister said government was considering a number of options to appreciate her, though he said he could not disclose the options that were being considered by government

Government is considering a number of options but I cannot say that for now because no decision has already government appreciates not only her, the only thing is that she was the leader and did something as the leader of the team that showed the courage and patriotism she had as a doctor, he stated.

FG did not sack doctors

Chukwu

Meanwhile, the minister has clarified that the directive by the Federal Ministry of Health to suspend all residency training programmes for Nigerian doctors, Resident Doctors and Health workers did not mean that President Jonathan ordered the sack of all resident doctors in Nigerian hospitals.

The directive last week contained in an internal memo dated August 13, according to the Permanent Secretary of Ministry, L.N. Awute, was given following an appraisal of the challenges facing the health sector

But dispelling rumours that the doctors were sacked, Chukwu said: They were not sacked, it is a matter of interpretation. For example, when someone still working actively dies, or whether that person resigned or was dismissed or retired or terminated all mean different things in the public service. But the end point is that the person is no longer working.

I want us to put things in perspective. Government did not sack anybody, it is true that they themselves have not been working for almost two months, except those in private hospitals. Resident doctors in both federal and state hospitals have not been working for almost two months now and they have not participated in the control of this Ebola virus disease, they have not played any role.

So, even if government had not taken any decision, they are not there, they are not working and I dont know why suddenly the media starts taking interest in them. They are not part of this success story.

This is only in federal hospitals, the federal government is not deciding for the states or private hospitals. It is not a permanent thing, I believe we will quickly appraise this situation and hopefully government will resume residency programme because honestly we need to train doctors in the specialist areas.

Lagos receives 5 additional suspected cases

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it had received five additional suspected cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), saying the fresh suspected cases were brought in on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing on update of the deadly disease at the Bagauda Kalto Press Centre located in the state secretariat, Alausa, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said two of the fresh suspected cases were secondary contacts while the remaining three were primary contacts with the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer who imported the disease into the country.

No new cases of Ebola virus Minister

But in another twist, the Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the Health Minister, Dan Nwomeh, urged the media to disregard all rumours of new cases of the virus.

A statement made available to LEADERSHIP on behalf of the minister, captioned, No New Confirmed Case of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria, reads, The Honourable Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu wishes to reiterate that at present, Nigeria has only two confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease.

Chukwu said the clarification became necessary following media reports of five new cases in Lagos State, adding that the report should be disregarded.

He said: However, as at 7 pm today, there is no other confirmed Ebola Virus Disease case in Nigeria outside the two that are currently under treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos.

Another Liberian at isolation ward tests positive

But the Lagos Health commissioner maintained that the fresh suspected cases had increased the number of patients in isolation wards from two to six; adding that one of the suspected cases was a Liberian brought into the isolation centre from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

The commissioner pointed out that the Liberian had since been released, having tested negative to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Idris said, Till date, we have recorded eight suspected cases, five of which were brought in yesterday. We have 12 confirmed cases on the whole out of which five have died and five have been discharged. We are currently following up on 213 contacts while 62 have completed the 21-day follow-up.

Nigeria postpones security summit over Ebola outbreak

Citing precautionary measures to check the spread of Ebola virus, organisers of a Parliamentary Security Summit scheduled to hold in Nigeria from September 15 to 16, 2014 have put the Summit on hold.

The Security Summit, under the auspices of the National Institute for Legislative Studies and the ECOWAS Parliament was set to examine the causal and aggravating factors of transnational crimes and terrorism in West Africa with a global perspective, the summit organizers, said in a statement yesterday.

The latest and largest outbreak of the Ebola virus disease to date has ravaged Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria, all ECOWAS member-countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the death toll had exceeded 1,200.

The summit organisers said the decision to postpone the event was as a result of directives by ECOWAS Commission that all ECOWAS meetings be suspended as a precautionary measure to check the spread of Ebola virus among the citizens of member states.

No new date was announced for the summit.

Katsina corps member decamped over Ebola scare

One of the over 2000 corps members deployed to Katsina State, Ige Kolawole, has been reportedly decamped from the Katsina NYSC Camp following suspicion of him, having contracted the dreaded Ebola virus

Doctor Amadi said the corps member came down with some symptoms of the disease and had to be moved to a better facility for thorough checks.

Amadi said the suspect had severe temperature which had refused to stabilize, prompting the call for his decampment insisting that they were very suspicious and had to use health gear all through while handling the corps member.

He came vomiting, had symptoms of upper respiratory infections, all the time he was on admission here had that fever refused to come down. This raised that suspicion he said.

Ebonyi Bans movement of corpses, inter-state trading

In its bid to ensure that the state remained free from the deadly Ebola Virus in Ebonyi State, the state Government yesterday said it had banned movement of corpses from other parts of the country into its environs and also set up a committee to check inter- state trading.