Tackling spread of Ebola virus from spiritual healing homes
Since Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old Liberian, who flew into Lagos from Monrovia via Lome, died in a private hospital, from the deadly Ebola Virus, stirring fears in the residents of possible spread of the disease in Lagos, governments have intensified efforts to combat the virus. JOSHUA BASSEY writes that the searchlight is now being beamed on spiritual healing homes which may harbour victims.
Abdulsalami Nasidi, a professor, and director of Centre for Disease Control in Nigeria, Yewande Adeshina, special adviser to Lagos State government on public health, and other experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) looked calm as they set down for the media briefing.
Their mission was to announce to anxious journalists who have been patiently for almost two hours in the conference room of the Lagos State Staff Clinic, Secretariat, Alausa, that Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-born suspected carrier of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease was being kept in isolation in a private hospital, while the final result of his blood sample had been sent to WHO facility in Dakar, Sierra Leone, for analysis and it was being expected in three days.
But explanations offered by the health experts in response to questions from journalists during the media briefing were enough to draw a conclusion. Alas! The dreaded Ebola Virus which has claimed many lives in Guinea, Liberia and Siera Leone is finally here, and there was no hiding it no matter how calm the medical experts looked. And by the following day, the worse happened; Sawyer was dead.
Since the death of the Liberian, efforts have been intensified by the government by the federal and Lagos state government to prevent the spread of the disease. Among measures so far taken by these governments include public awareness campaign, deployment of safety equipment to hospitals, establishing 59 contacts of the victims for purposes of analysis and test, as well as establishing medical desks at some of Nigeria’s international airports.
The latest effort by the governments currently ongoing is the sensitisation of churches and spiritual healing homes on the danger of allowing into their congregations sick persons from the African countries where the disease is prevalent.
One of the churches the sensitisation team which comprises federal and Lagos state health experts has visited is the Synagogue of All Nations, whose leader, Temitope Joshua, is highly reputed for spiritual healing of locals and foreign nationals of “all manner of diseases.”
Leading the delegation to Synagogue recently was Jide Idris, Lagos State commissioner for health, who offered to work with the health team of the church in the areas of technical assistance, medical advice and training to ensure that no victim of the deadly disease comes to the church from any of the affected African countries undetected.
Idris said the delegation decided to visit the church because of its international recognition as a spiritual healing centre whose congregation comprises people from different parts of the world including the countries of the West African sub-region which have already been affected by the Ebola disease.
According to Idris, the visit is one the government’s strategies to sensitising faith-based organisations on the need to cooperate with the government in preventing the spread of the disease in Nigeria by educating their worshippers.
Pointing out that the federal and Lagos State governments were working hard on how to prevent a spread of the virus, Idris said the delegation was at Synagogue because of the influx of foreign nationals into its congregation, a situation which necessitates raising the awareness level on the disease in the church.
“We have our strategies that we intend to share with you. Again, we need to know the resources you have here because whether it is one or two cases, if they are allowed to get out, it is a major problem. We are here to work together on how to contain this disease,” said the commissioner.
Nasidi, who was a part of the delegation, said the visit was also to inform the Synagogue leader of the danger of the Ebola Virus and to ensure that it does not escape into the country. He said the economies of countries where the disease is prevalent were already being affected.
Nasidi, who is an epidemiologist and virologist, described the visit as “positive engagement mission” adding, “We are here to engage you positively because we are duty-bound to protect you and your congregation.
“Our mission is to work with you to explore ways of make sure that this thing does not explode.”
In what the delegation intends to do, Nasidi explained that there are experts from WHO, the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) and other international experts to give guidelines, materials and technical expertise on how to ensure that the disease does not spread into the country.
According to him, all the experts are here to work with the committee on technical issues adding that together, the committee would work with the Church’s health team, “train them on how to handle this dangerous situation, pass some materials to them, share knowledge with them and, if need be, we are ready to provide some technical materials.”
He reiterated that the Ebola disease comes from a most deadly virus which “spreads so fast from man to man especially those who come in contact with the victims, share body fluid during treatment,” the expert said, expressing regrets that those who have come in contact with the victims in the urban areas are those who are providing care, either in the hospitals or in traditional homes.
Joshua, in his remarks, promised to work with the government to ensure that the disease does not spread into the country, saying he would put some measures in place to ensure that people from the already affected countries do not enter Nigeria. One of such measures, he said, is to visit any of the countries when necessary rather than allow their residents come into Nigeria.
He also promised to suspend some of his major church healing programmes for a few weeks, adding: “I am ready to work with you. I love my country and I will be ready to work with you. Even if it is a rumour, there is need to secure our environment to ensure that it is safe.”