Nigeria Donate $3.5m To Liberia, Other

The minister of health,prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday said
Nigeria had already donated $3.5m as part of its intervention in the
affected countries.

Chukwu said the sum was made up of $500,000 to each of the countries
and the balance to the common ECOWAS Fund for the disease.

He also said 591 health practitioners had volunteered to join the
international force that would go to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea
to help in the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease.

He said the volunteers registered with his ministry at three points in
Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt.

Chukwu said this while speaking with State House correspondents at the
end of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by
President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said that he had already told a recent meeting of the United
Nations General Assembly on EVD of Nigeria's readiness to help the
three countries.

He said, "I informed the United Nations General Assembly that the
President has already directed the Federal Ministry of Health to train
and send health personnel to these three countries in the area of
special laboratory work to strengthen capacity in those countries.

"I also informed them that as part of Nigeria's contributions to the
international team that will be set up to tackle Ebola Virus Disease
in those countries, already Nigeria volunteers from different health
professions have been registering with us, willing to join the
international force that will go to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea
to help out with the containment.

"As of now, 591Nigerians have already registered with us in three
registries we opened in Lagos, Abuja Port Harcourt."

The minister however said there were certain conditions to be met
before the volunteers would be allowed to leave the country.

He said the first step was for President Goodluck Jonathan to approve
their journey and mission and that the volunteers would be properly
trained according to Nigeria's standards, which, he said, was fairly
high.

Chukwu said he also told the meeting, which was called to review the
global situation on the disease that Nigeria is now Ebola-free. He
said the country had had 19 cases with seven deaths contrary to the 20
cases being reported by the foreign media.

"Presently there is no single case of active Ebola Virus Disease in
Nigeria, no single contact that is presently under surveillance in any
part of the country," he declared.

He said the ban on repatriation of corpses as well as inter-state
movement of corpses was still in force, adding that the ban remained
except where approval had been granted by the Minister of Health.

--PUNCH