Association seeks quarantine of immigrants

The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives has urged the Federal Government to quarantine all immigrants to the country to prevent spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

The association’s Secretary-General, Mr Marcus Omokhuale, told the News Agency of Nigeria on phone in Lagos on Friday that the measure would help safeguard the lives of health professionals.

Omokhale spoke against the backdrop of the death of one of the association’s members, who died of the infection on Wednesday in Lagos after attending to a patient carrying the virus.

NAN reports that the late nurse attended to the Liberian government worker, Patrick Sawyer, who died of the virus shortly after arriving from a flight in Lagos on July 25.

The scribe said that such hazard was not alien to the profession, saying nurses have been victims of similar incidents hidden to the public knowledge.

Omokhale said, “This is not the first time nurses died in the course of carrying out their duties.

“The outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease  that led to the death of one of our members now makes the public see the risk nurses are exposed too.

“Nurses face a lot of hazards because of their close contact with patients more than any other health professionals.

“To prevent future occurrence of this, every immigrant should be quarantined to be able to assess them whether they have the virus or not.

 “The government should make available all the gadgets, all the materials that are needed for protection of the professional in this critical time.”

According to him, government, aside all the public enlightenment about the disease, should provide such materials being used outside the country by people who handle the case.

He said that all entry and exit points into the country should be carefully managed to shut doors against further spread of the disease.

Omokhuale added that the demise of the colleague would not affect the care nurses give to patients.

“That notwithstanding does not mean we will not continue to do our humanitarian services, what we need to do is to take extra precautionary measures.

“We encourage nurses never to withdraw their care as we also expect the government to intensify effort at providing preventive materials.

“Government should do the first thing first; otherwise it will just be endangering their lives as no one knows where or which patient have the virus,” he said.

The scribe urged Nigerians and government officials to appreciate the union’s position when it was asking for hazard allowances for nurses.