Ebola is not an automatic death sentence- Fashola

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has said contracting Ebola is not an automatic death sentence, stressing that the consequences of death would depend on what is done and what is not done to contain the deadly disease.
Fashola made this statement during an inspection visit to an isolation ward for patients with symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba area of Lagos, today.
The governor furthers “the facility is now ready for use, as the we tackle the outbreak of Ebola disease that has claimed two lives already.
“The State has a health challenge on her hands and the administration is concerned about the people in terms of their well-being and for the people who have taken leadership to help in containing it.
He stressed that there were already reported cases of patients who are recovering in other parts of West Africa and that the issue was about being able to respond to it appropriately and taking precaution.
“We are also taking precaution and that is also why we did not go into where the patients are because there is a very strict protocol for going there, so if you are going there, you must wear a fully protected gown.
In the place where we are expanding to ensure that we are able to cope with anything that comes, you would see the shower there; people have to go through a protocol, one way in, one way out. That is why you cannot go into where patients are now unless you are fully protected appropriately and unless you walk through the mandated process for going in and for coming out”.
“Those who are detoxifying and decontaminating they don’t go in. They are waiting outside and those who go in do so under a very rigorous protocol set up with advise from the centre for disease control and then people who are not critically ill and stuffs, where they go and how we are going to be disposing off their refuse and their waste have been worked out.
Provisions have already been made there so that we can separate very critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation,” Governor Fashola said.
Fashola said that provisions had also been made to separate critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation.
The governor pointed out that the first defence against the virus was to prevent it from spreading; stressing that once that is done, then the health authorities are on the way towards coming out of it.
“From what I hear following a long discussion I heard with the leadership of the Centre for Disease Control in Washington yesterday, I was speaking with them comparing what they were doing with what they expected us to be doing. Their personnel are here for clarity working and helping in training people,” the Governor explained.
He urged persons who feel they had had contact with an Ebola victim to ensure they do not make further contact with any member of their family.
The government is making all efforts to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained and the facility is one of the strategies aimed at reducing contact with persons with the virus.
Two new case was reported on Friday morning, increasing fears that the virus was spreading in one of Nigeria’s most populous cities, Lagos with over 20 million peopl