FG set to establish Ebola survival clinic, says NCDC Director

                                          
 Dr Abdulsalam Nasidi, Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says the Federal Government will soon establish a Ebola Survival Clinic in Lagos or Ibadan.

Fielding questions from newsmen on the first anniversary of declaration of Nigeria Ebola free in Abuja on Tuesday, Nasidi said doctors that defeated Ebola in Lagos would be used to quickly establish the proposed clinic.

He said the survival clinic by the NCDC would work in collaboration with tertiary health institutions to address the issue of relapse in survival.
“The clinic has the component of the follow up, where we will be monitoring what happens to Ebola survivors daily,’’ he said.

According to Nasidi, the idea of survival clinics was conceived by the NCDC in Sierra Leone,

“The clinic was established by the Nigeria contingent to assist survivors in Sierra Leone, and it has gone a long way in bringing us to proper understanding what is happening to Ebola survivors.

“But in Nigeria, we do not practice it. We have come to realise with all the relapses and new pattern of epidemiology of Ebola, that we should now establish the clinic in Nigeria.’’

In a related development, Nasidi said agitation was on for national honours to be given to late Dr Adedavoh and many officers who risk their lives in the fight against EVD.

Mr Linus Awute, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, said it was a year today that Nigeria achieved a great feat of terminating the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

“In the past one year, Nigeria has not lowered her guard. We remain vigilant through enhanced surveillance, not only for Ebola but also for all diseases that constitute public health emergencies,’’ Awute said.

The permanent secretary said the global Ebola control environment had changed based on new evidences around care for Ebola.
He said the cases included Ebola care in pregnancy, survivors related symptoms, discovery of Ebola vaccine, relapse of the disease.

“Most recently evidence of sexual transmission of the disease by survivors carrying the virus in their semen and vaginal secretions was discovered.
“These recent developments have changed our understanding of the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of this disease.

“We have therefore held on to the fact that Nigeria Ebola freedom is not going to be full celebration until the transmission of the disease in the human population reaches zero in West Africa,’’ Awute said.