The first Nigerian patient to survive the Ebola Virus disease has been discharged from the hospital.
Independent reports:
This development, as announced by Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, makes the patient, a female medical personnel, the first Nigerian Ebola case to be declared fit and discharged from an isolation ward.
Chukwu told journalists in Lagos on Saturday that the patient, whose identity was not revealed, was asked to go home after all the necessary medical examinations were carried out to ascertain her fitness.
The minister, who gave further details on the Ebola situation, said, “The total number of Ebola cases now stands at 12, while the number of deaths remains four. The people under surveillance in Lagos are now 189, while six are in Enugu, South East Nigeria”.
Also, the minister announced that it would not be in any hurry to begin treating patients with any of the experimental drugs until they are verified and cleared by the country’s National Health Research Ethics Committee.
This is to save the country any calamity, even as questions over the safety and suitability of Nano Silver, one the experimental Ebola drugs purportedly produced by a Nigerian and approved earlier for testing, was queried by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The minister disclosed that it failed the requirements of the National Health Research Ethics Code.
He, however, gave indication that the ethics committee would not be pressured into making hasty decisions on the drugs, to avoid mistakes that may turn costly.
The minister also held a closed door meeting with members of families of the affected persons with the aim of dousing their apprehension over the condition of their people while under surveillance.
He has also assured that the Federal Government has concluded all arrangements for the disbursement of all of its obligations towards containing the outbreak, beginning next week.
He said a new 40-bed ward has been opened and all the seven remaining patients had been moved in, to ensure they get the best treatment.
Commissioner of Health, Lagos State, Dr Jide Idris, told our correspondent that the doctor was able to recover because her immunity was high at the time of contact with the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer,
“We gave her basically the same treatment others were given and she showed the greatest and fastest improvement; her discharge is based on WHO Protocol, that certified her fir to return home to her family”, Idris stated.