LAGOS – The Lagos chapter of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) on Friday said it would partner the state’s Ministry of Health in handling the suspected case of Ebola Virus in the state. The Chairman of the chapter, Dr Tope Ojo, gave the assurance in Lagos at a media briefing. It would be recalled that Dr Yewande Adeshina, the Special Adviser to the Gov. Babatunde Fashola on Public Health, on Thursday announced that a suspected case of Ebola had been recorded in the state. She had said that the ministry of health received information from a private hospital in the state on the issue on Tuesday.
Confirming the report, the NMA chairman said that preliminary investigation indicated that the case could be an Ebola infection. “As a medical association, we are primary custodian of heath issues and we shall partner the state government to ensure that the outbreak of the disease is prevented,” he said.
Ojo urged the public to always maintain high environmental and personal hygiene to prevent contact with the disease.
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On the ongoing nationwide medical doctors’ strike, he said that the strike was to attract Federal Government’s attention to the problems in the health sector.
He explained that the problem of attaining universal health coverage in the country was one of the major challenges facing the nation’s health sector.
“The National Health Insurance Scheme currently targets to cover only 30 per cent of Nigerians and NMA is demanding for 100 per cent coverage.
“We appeal to Nigerians to put pressure on government by all necessary means to do the needful and save the health sector from imminent collapse,” he said.
Ojo also decried the high rate of maternal and infant mortality in the country, saying, “we shall constitute ad-hoc committees to look into all the cases of maternal and infant deaths within Lagos State.
“We will also give periodic reports that will be accessible to the public as part of our efforts to positively influence government policies,” he said. (NAN)
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