As official rhetoric and blame game drives fear into the complex matrix over the raging Ebola crisis, there are reports that some hospitals are now sending away patients, who exhibit Ebola symptoms to go home and manage their illness; leaving the patients with no option than self-medication. This is most pathetic and tragic! Even more disheartening, the response of government officials seem to be to run down the clock; waiting for the victims to die. This appears to be the case with Dr. Stella Adadevoh, the consultant endocrinologist, who became infected while treating the Liberian, Patrick Sawyer. Her death sparked nationwide panic and nervousness among medical personnel, charged with containing the outbreak, but are now shying away from their primary responsibility for fear of being infected. All the confusion and chaos points to the fact that empty bureaucratic noises in high places have taken the place of needed actions and a concerted strategy to tackle the Ebola challenge that has become a national emergency. The gravity of the Ebola epidemic demands an urgent response, beyond managing victims to die; and the time for action is now!
Ebola is sufficiently serious a disease deserving of the emergency as has been declared by the government. With the declaration of an emergency, all hospitals (public and private), and health personnel across the country ought to have been put on red alert. Unfortunately, Nigeria officials with their remarkable genius for travesty have gone to town grandstanding and making money from what is unarguably a national tragedy. The seminars, conferences, meetings and press statements, have not ceased even as more Ebola cases are identified. The rumor mill has spun beyond reason, misinforming the public with all manner of unfounded cures and remedies that have no scientific basis. It was once claimed that bitter kola was a potent remedy and Nigerians promptly descended on bitter kola, until the rumor was debunked. Thereafter came another buzz that drinking or bathing with hot water mixed with common salt provided a remedy, a spurious claim that some gullible Nigerians actually believed and resorted to until, they were saved from the tragedy of falling prey to ignorance.
The discordant notes have been coming from amongst others; Information Minister, Labaran Maku, who first disclosed that 21 persons were quarantined in Enugu over contact with the nurse who escaped surveillance and travelled to Enugu after testing positive for Ebola, while treating Sawyer. A day later, Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said only six persons were under surveillance, down from the 21 initially announced by Maku. Last Friday, the Health Minister announced two new Ebola cases; bringing the total number so far reported in the country to 14; but noted that: “The Federal Government… wishes to reassure the Nigerian public and the global community that efforts will not relent until the very last case of the Ebola Virus Disease is seen in Nigeria.” The number of deaths remains five, while the number of those successfully managed and discharged also stands at five.
But there is no beneficial value in Onyebuchi’s misplaced self-vindication, amid reports that hospitals are now turning away patients with Ebola symptoms. Because many Nigerian hospitals know Ebola is highly contagious, most private hospitals are avoiding patients because they lack facilities like isolation or quarantine units, personal protection equipment (PPE) and trained personnel to carry out the necessary care. Does the Health Minister need any reminder that laboratory confirmation of Ebola diagnosis requires equipment, reagents and trained personnel that most hospitals don’t have? The latest practice of sending suspected patients home can only increase the risk of spreading the virus as it leaves the affected people vulnerable to self-medication and contacts with others.
The implications of self-medication, according to health experts, include incorrect self-diagnosis, delays in seeking medical advice when needed, infrequent but severe adverse reactions, dangerous drug interactions, incorrect manner of administration, incorrect dosage, incorrect choice of therapy, masking of a severe disease and risk of dependence and abuse, drug interactions, medications abuse or dependence, misdiagnosis and incorrect choice of treatment. There is no beneficial value in self-medication and for each day, an Ebola patient stays at home, family and all contacts are endangered. It is, therefore, better left to the imagination the terrible consequences, specifically on public health and on public psyche of reports that hospitals were rejecting suspected Ebola patients. The situation is a disaster waiting to happen!
While the response of many hospitals may encourage self-medication, an intense health enlightenment campaign should be mounted to educate the general public on how the infection is acquired and transmitted and how to minimize the risk of contracting the virus. Private hospitals must take a look at their routine procedures and ensure that all avenues for spreading infections in a hospital environment are plugged and a protocol for handling febrile illnesses and suspicious Ebola cases are put in place. Ebola deserves every counter-measure because of its history of destructiveness.
Ebola is a national crisis of monumental proportion as the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared. The deadly virus can wipe out scores of people in a matter of days if unchecked. The disease is contracted by direct contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids such as saliva, urine, mucus, sweat and semen. Governments at all levels must continue to take Ebola seriously and sustain public enlightenment through traditional as well as the now very popular social media, on measures to prevent or contain it. Scrupulous personal hygiene, avoidance of bush meat consumption, avoidance of contact with suspected victims, and immediate report of suspected cases to health authorities, are just some of the steps the public should take.
Ebola is not AIDS that could be hidden for some time; for unlike AIDS, Ebola symptoms manifest within two days or for as long as three weeks after exposure. The symptoms progress from fever to nausea, headache, sore throat, tiredness, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing and bleeding. So far, there is no vaccine or known cure as scientists are still working on a number of trial drugs that are yet to be approved. On July 31, 2014, the two Americans infected with Ebola in Liberia were administered with the experimental drug, ZMAPP, first to be tested on humans, and the drug had positive results. But President Barack Obama has declined to allow the drug to be used on infected Africans.
While the world struggles to develop a potent cure, the best way out now is good hygiene. Keeping the living environment clean is essential. All must be careful, people should as much as possible avoid crowded areas, while churches, mosques and other religious houses should control meetings that bring too many people into contact with one another. The same goes for political rallies. The Medical and Dental Council Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has said commercial cyclists (okada), could be at risk of the spread of the disease through body contacts. The same is true of the over-crowded Nigerian public bus transport system. One thing is clear – Ebola puts everybody at risk.
