The Federal Government has instituted life insurance policy for health workers attending to Ebola Virus patients.Besides, outbound passengers would be screened before leaving the country The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, announced these during a meeting with foreign missions in the country Thursday.
He assured that these will start in the coming week as efforts are now geared towards putting everything in place.
He said,
“we are facing some challenges because we need to encourage workers especially when they hear that some doctors and nurses are dying even now in Nigeria, a nurse has died. It has now become increasingly difficult to convince health workers to attend to these patients but we have to and we are making effort to get people.
“We have also improved their confidence level, what we have decided is that all the people taking part even if they did not have insurance before, they must have insurance. This one is not indemnity for now alone, it is life insurance to protect them and their families so that in case anything happens to them, their families will not suffer double loss. So, that is mandatory and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation for All federal workers and all the people we will recruit whether private, state or federal personnel are going to enjoy this insurance.”
On the screening of outbound passengers, “I believe by next week, we will start, we are trying to get personnel in place, we have equipment but we need more personnel, it is not easy screening all the airports, so we are trying to fill that gap.
“The kind of help we mean is for instance, if you have an airline that is flying from country A and it is their airline, we can say, ok, we will give you some staff to do it with them.”
On the trial drug, which the government requested from the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Onyebuchi said he is still awaiting response on that.
Similarly, President Jonathan has moved quickly to arrest the threat of the Ebola virus by ordering additional protective equipment for health and border officials.
The oil and gas sector is leading the effort to galvanise funding for the purchase of the protective wear. The special gear will reduce risk of infection to those who, by virtue of their jobs, may come in contact with victims of Ebola virus, and will be distributed to all federal hospitals beginning with border states like Lagos, Cross River, Kano, Rivers, and Borno. Following presidential directives, health workers and border officials will also be educated on the use of said gear, along with adequate information about the Ebola virus and instructed on how to handle suspected cases of the virus.
He assured that these will start in the coming week as efforts are now geared towards putting everything in place.
He said,
“we are facing some challenges because we need to encourage workers especially when they hear that some doctors and nurses are dying even now in Nigeria, a nurse has died. It has now become increasingly difficult to convince health workers to attend to these patients but we have to and we are making effort to get people.
“We have also improved their confidence level, what we have decided is that all the people taking part even if they did not have insurance before, they must have insurance. This one is not indemnity for now alone, it is life insurance to protect them and their families so that in case anything happens to them, their families will not suffer double loss. So, that is mandatory and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation for All federal workers and all the people we will recruit whether private, state or federal personnel are going to enjoy this insurance.”
On the screening of outbound passengers, “I believe by next week, we will start, we are trying to get personnel in place, we have equipment but we need more personnel, it is not easy screening all the airports, so we are trying to fill that gap.
“The kind of help we mean is for instance, if you have an airline that is flying from country A and it is their airline, we can say, ok, we will give you some staff to do it with them.”
On the trial drug, which the government requested from the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Onyebuchi said he is still awaiting response on that.
Similarly, President Jonathan has moved quickly to arrest the threat of the Ebola virus by ordering additional protective equipment for health and border officials.
The oil and gas sector is leading the effort to galvanise funding for the purchase of the protective wear. The special gear will reduce risk of infection to those who, by virtue of their jobs, may come in contact with victims of Ebola virus, and will be distributed to all federal hospitals beginning with border states like Lagos, Cross River, Kano, Rivers, and Borno. Following presidential directives, health workers and border officials will also be educated on the use of said gear, along with adequate information about the Ebola virus and instructed on how to handle suspected cases of the virus.
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