MINISTER OF HEALTH – PROFESSOR ONYEBUCHI CHUKWU
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The Minister of Health in Nigeria, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, says the first Nigerian Ebola patient declared fit and discharged from hospital.
Professor Chukwu told journalists in Lagos on Saturday that the patient, whose identity has not been revealed, was asked to go home after all the necessary medical examinations were carried out.
“The total number of Ebola cases now stands at 12, while the number of deaths remains four. The people under surveillance in Lagos is now 189, while six are in Enugu, in southeast Nigeria,” Professor Chukwu said.
The minister also announced that the drug, Nano Silva, which was thought could be used to treat Ebola patients in Nigeria, was said not to have met the requirements of the National Health Research ethics code.
His statement is coming two days after the death of a fourth Ebola patient was reported.
In an effort to contain the spread of the virus, the Lagos State government, the only state in Nigeria with reported cases of Ebola, had provided an isolation unit to accommodate persons who tested positive to the virus.
At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday Professor Chukwu, said eight persons were still alive, more than half of them are doing very well and actually showing signs of recovery … under treatment,” Prof Chukwu said.
The discharged patient is believed to be among those he earlier said were recovering.
The World Health Organization has called this Ebola outbreak, whose worst affected countries include Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, an international emergency. It has killed around 55 to 60 per cent of those who have contracted the disease.
President Goodluck Jonathan last week declared the Ebola outbreak in Lagos State a national emergency and approved an intervention fund of 1.9 billion Naira to contain the disease.
CHANNELSTV
