The Federal Government and management of Federal airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) have been commended for activating public health emergency programmes, at the nation’s airports, to prevent the spread of deadly Ebola virus or any other communicable diseases into the country.
The commendations were given this morning at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, by some passengers who arrived the country aboard a Kenyan Airways flight.
The passengers who arrived the airport at about 11:30 am local time were immediately subjected to screening entry gate D of the airport.
The passengers expressed their happiness to be screened for Ebola Virus at the Lagos airport; even though they were not screened for the deadly virus at their airports of departure, commended the Federal Government and FAAN for taken the right steps that would prevent the nation from witnessing another outbreak of deadly virus in the country.
It would be recalled that a Liberian, Late Patrick Sawyer spread the deadly disease into Nigeria from his home country some years ago leading to the death of some Nigerians before the disease was curtailed and cured.
The passengers said by deploying the right equipments and skilled personnel to carry out the screening at the airport, is for the good of all and the nation in general.
A passenger returning from United Arabs Emirates aboard the Kenya Airways flight, Uko Eze said there was no screening in Kenya but had however heard about the outbreak of the Ebola Virus.
“I have heard about the outbreak of the disease in Africa. We were not screened when we were departing from Nairobi, Kenya, but I am particularly happy, Nigeria has put in place everything that is necessary to prevent the virus from entering the country,” Eze said.
Another passenger, a Liberian who claimed she came from New York, USA and arrived Nigeria aboard the same flight said she was aware that there is an outbreak of Ebola in Africa but had to take fly to the country for her holidays, commended the Federal government for providing the right equipment and skilled personnel to carry out the screening of passengers for Ebola virus in the airport.
“I am a Liberia, from New York, in the States. I am aware there is an outbreak of Ebola in Africa. I am impressed that the government of Nigeria and the airport authority have provided good equipment and skilled personnel to carry out the screening here. It is a commendable effort.” She said.
Also speaking in the same vein, was John Nnamdi who came in on board the KQ flight from Dubai. Nnamdi said he said he got the awareness of the Ebola outbreak on the net. He said he was not surprised when he was subjected to screening here in Nigeria.
This is good and commendable. I came in from Dubai through Nairobi. I was aware of the outbreak of Ebola Virus in Congo. But we were not screened in any of those airports before our departure; I am not surprised when I was subjected to Ebola screening here in Lagos Nigeria, it showed the level of preparedness of the government at preventing the spread of diseases into the country.
Speaking with journalists who monitored the exercise, the Regional Manager, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Mrs Victoria Shin-Aba said, all the equipment put in place when Ebola was brought in to Nigeria by the index case, Mr. Patrick Sawyer have always been put to use.
Shin-Aba said an emergency contingency plan in line with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), had been activated to ensure that any passenger with traces of any communicable disease was isolated and attended to.
“We have a Public emergency programme in place that is in standard with ICAO practice and we follow that. The new arrangement is part of measures to sensitize passengers on ongoing efforts by government to checkmate any spread of the disease”.
She added that sanitizers and soaps have been provided at toilets at the airport to ensure that passengers maintain high level of hygiene.
She said the new arrangement where passengers were screened bodily with the prescribed scanners was carried out to convince airports users that the authority was on top of the situation.
According to her, few weeks ago, a mock exercise was carried out to prepare the relevant personnel on the procedure to adopt in the event of any outbreak of communicable disease.
According to her, FAAN would continue to stick to the public health emergency procedure to ensure that the relevant international standards were maintained.
Acting General Manager, Medical FAAN, Dr. Ayotunde Kehinde said FAAN and the Port Health services were working together to ensure all passengers were screened.
