The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has explained why the Federal Government approved the medical evacuation of Nigeria’s confirmed Ebola patient to Switzerland citing diplomatic considerations human rights and compliance with international health regulations as authorities identified a new suspected case linked to the patient.
The NCDC Director-General Dr Jide Idris disclosed on Monday on national television that the new suspected case involved an Uber driver who transported the index patient to an earlier hospital in Abuja before her diagnosis.
The DG said the development followed additional information obtained during contact tracing bringing the number of primary contacts identified in the outbreak to 54.
He said the patient a Swiss national who travelled from Uganda had tested positive for Ebola twice before being evacuated alongside her husband to Switzerland. Her husband however had tested negative.
Idris dismissed suggestions that the patient had been secretly removed from Nigeria explaining that the Swiss Embassy formally requested the evacuation which was approved after consultations with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Muhammad Ali Pate.
‘I won’t use the word ‘snuck out’. That’s a no-brainer. It is the first time something like that has happened’ he said.
According to him the government weighed public health risks international obligations and the patient’s rights before approving the transfer.
Authorities also ensured that infection prevention and control measures were maintained throughout the process from the hospital to the aircraft he said adding ‘There is an infection prevention and control guideline starting from the hospital where the patient was taken and that was maintained.
‘This was how the patient was protected.’
He added that the government was satisfied that appropriate arrangements had been made to receive the patient safely in Switzerland.
The NCDC chief maintained that the evacuation did not reflect a lack of confidence in Nigeria’s healthcare system stressing that the country had competent infectious disease specialists and medical personnel capable of managing Ebola.
He said experts who helped contain the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Lagos had been mobilised to support the current response assess facilities and strengthen infection prevention and control practices.
Idris explained that although Nigerian doctors had stabilised the patient who reportedly developed multiple organ failure clinical improvement did not necessarily mean the virus had been cleared from her body.
‘The patient can remain positive because the virus is still in the blood. There are no drugs to deal with this virus’ he said referring to the absence of an established antiviral treatment specifically targeting the strain responsible for the outbreak.
Meanwhile the NCDC said contact tracing and surveillance remained critical despite evacuating the confirmed case.
Idris said health authorities were monitoring identified contacts for 21 days corresponding to Ebola’s maximum incubation period.
More than 40 contacts were in quarantine facilities in Abuja while six others were under home-based self-quarantine because their assessed risk was low he added.
According to him officials contacted those quarantined at home regularly checking their temperatures in the morning and evening.
He also disclosed that three people who were retested after developing symptoms or showing changes in their clinical condition returned negative results.
The agency clarified that Nigeria had no confirmed active Ebola case after the evacuation but warned that the risk would persist until it had monitored all contacts and investigated potential secondary exposures.
‘We are not out of the woods yet until we are sure that all the contacts have been followed up. Because the index case is out doesn’t mean that we don’t have an active positive case’ Idris said.
He urged anyone with information about possible exposure to contact the nearest public health facility or call the NCDC’s toll-free hotline 6232 which he said was available round the clock.
On the government’s reported plan to provide ?100000 weekly to people in quarantine Idris said support was being considered on compassionate grounds.
Some contacts complained that isolation prevented them from attending to their families and businesses and some threatened to leave quarantine facilities.
He said the government intervened to provide feeding accommodation and other essential support to encourage compliance with public health measures although quarantine facilities are ordinarily the responsibility of state governments.
Idris also said the government approved a ?10 billion intervention fund to strengthen preparedness and control measures for Ebola and other endemic diseases including Lassa fever.
The money would support personal protective equipment laboratory supplies surveillance contact tracing transportation and the rehabilitation of treatment and isolation centres.
Addressing public concerns about transmission he stressed that Ebola was not airborne and spread primarily through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people or contaminated materials.
‘Transmission is not airborne. It is by touch by touch contact’ he said urging Nigerians to seek prompt medical attention if they developed symptoms particularly after possible exposure.
He also cautioned against relying on herbal preparations to prevent or cure the disease noting that their effectiveness against Ebola had not been established.
The NCDC chief further rejected suggestions that the outbreak could be used as a political weapon ahead of the 2027 general election.
‘We in the health sector will not use disease issues as a political weapon and there will not be any postponement of the election on the case of Ebola’ he said.
Nigeria’s response remains focused on surveillance contact tracing and preventing further transmission following the imported case.
Idris said authorities had been monitoring international developments including the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and would continue strengthening surveillance at ports of entry as investigations progressed.