Ebola: Anxiety at MMIA over another outbreak

Down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, today was filled with anxious officials at the arrival hall as officials debated weather one suspected ill person with the deadly Ebola virus should be allowed into the nation.

The passengers identity was discovered by officials of the Port Health Service attached to the terminal.

The suspected victim entered the country through one of Nigeria’s local airline flying in from West African coast.

The source told The nation that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) personnel at the airport and the health officials began a fierce arguement over if the man should be allowd into the country or sent back to his point of departure.

The source said: “I don’t know specifically where the plane came from, but the patient was discovered during screening of inbound passengers by the port health officials at the airport. As at now, we don’t know what to do with him. Some of the officials want him return to base while others are insisting that as a Nigerian, he has the right to arrive into the country.

“The aircraft probably came from Accra, Ghana. I just want our officials to be careful with the way they interact with some of the passengers,” the source added. When contacted, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, dismissed the saying nothing like that happened.

The deadly disease was first detected in Nigeria after a Liberian man identified as Mr. Patrick Sawyer, used to be a WASH consultant at the Ministry of Finance arrived Nigeria on Sunday, July 20, 2014, for a conference was tested to be infected with the Ebola virus.

 

But unfortunately, Mr. Patrick Sawyer died in a Lagos Hospital less than 24 hours after his arrival in Nigeria.

 

Ebola virus has reportedly killed over 632 people all across countries in Africa since February 2014.

SHARE