Fashola “Regrets” Virus Spread Was Improperly Addressed

Odogwuemekaodogwu.blogspot.com reports that the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has expressed regret at “missed opportunities” to prevent the Ebola virus spreading to the city and subsequently the country.

He said the country could have taken precautionary measures like air travel monitor to ensure that all those coming into the country, especially from the already-infected countries, were properly screened at the airports.
When the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, the first confirmed victim, fell ill at the Lagos Airport, he would have been isolated and treated there instead of bringing him into the city, the governor argued.
“The first missed opportunity is that when this disease broke out in other parts of Africa we acted in the traditional way to say it will never come here. But that was the time air travel monitor into this place from those countries should have been more effective. In the event, somebody who had the disease flew into the country, took ill and had to be moved into a hospital in the town,” Fashola said.
Noting that the Liberian would have been attended to with a reliable health facility at the airport as it happens in other countries, Fashola noted, “But they drove right through the airport into the heart of Lagos where people were now struggling to save his life. In that process, I don’t know this for a fact, but clearly they came in contact with body fluid and other contaminated discharges. Whether they were wearing gloves and any protective thing is what I don’t know. But those were the missed opportunities.”
Nigeria have confirmed more than ten cases and two deaths since the latest outbreak of the scourge.