The House of Representatives has urged the Ministry of Health to immediately activate strategies to prevent the spread of Ebola virus in the country.
The call was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Dachung Bagos (PDP-Plateau) at plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion, Bagos said there was need for monitoring and adherence to Ebola prevention guidelines.
The rep said that there was need to ensure that Nigerians continued to comply with all advisories, aimed at curtailing the likely spread of the virus in the country.
He said that on Sept. 20, Uganda’s health authorities declared an outbreak of Ebola disease in the country.
Bagos said that the authorities said it was caused by Sudan virus, following laboratory confirmation of a patient from a village in Madudu sub-county, Mubende District In Central Uganda.
He said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised concern over the absence of
licensed vaccines and therapeutics for prevention and treatment of Sudan virus disease.
According to the parliamentarian, the risk of potential serious public health impact of the virus is high.
“Investigations are ongoing to determine the scope of the outbreak and the possIbility of spreading.
“Importation of cases to neighboring countries cannot be ruled out at this stage; according to the information currently available, the overall risk has been assessed as high at national level considering.
“The confirmed Sudan virus and the lack of an authorised vaccine, the possibility that the event started three weeks before the identification of the index case and several transmission chains have not been tracked.
“Worried that the Ebola virus is giving a lot of people concern around the world as it was
the variant that gave a lot of infections and fatalities, ” he said.
The house urged the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to ensure intensive observation and check on travel protocols for inbound passengers from redflage countries.
The lawmakers also urged the NCDC to set up the national response to control the likely emergence and spread of the Ebola virus in order to spare Nigeria the brunt of the pandemic.
In his ruling, the Speaker of the house, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila mandated the relevant committees of the house to ensure compliance. (NAN)
