The authority of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has said that it was planning an in-house drilling for pre-cautionary measures against the killer Ebola virus for its officers and men.
Speaking in a telephone interview with our Correspondent from Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Frank Mbah, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) stated that the Force was not unaware of the existence of the dangerous disease in the country.
“We are doing something to check the spread of the virus among and within the Police family. Considering its mode of transmission, and also knowing that our work involve constant contact with people, including during arrest, we have to brief our officers and men on how to still do their work without endangering their lives or that of other members of the Police Force family.”
He added that, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sulieman Abba, has directed the Police medical department to organized sensitization workshops and seminar for the men and officers of the Force as soon as possible.
Mbah, also stated that a total screening of officers and men who travelled out of the country to countries affected by the virus shall be carried out on them before they are allowed to enter the country.
“They would not just come in and go straight to their respective families or places of work, they shall be screened properly and ensure that they were safe and free from any such health problem.”
Mbah said the screening would not be limited to policemen from the affected African countries, “but any Policeman returning from outside Nigeria must be properly screened medically and certified fit by Police medical team.”
The Director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said on Thursday he has activated the agency’s emergency operation center at the highest response level to help respond to the worst Ebola outbreak in history, which has killed 932 people.
In testimony at a special congressional hearing on Ebola, CDC Director said the centers have more than 200 staff members in Atlanta working on the outbreak, and will soon have more than 50 disease experts in West Africa to try to contain the outbreak.
Although Frieden said it is possible that people who have traveled to West Africa might bring the virus back home with them, and even spread it to some healthcare workers and family members, he said, he is “confident there will not be a large Ebola outbreak in the United States.”
The scale of the outbreak is unprecedented, both in terms of its organic spread and travel of those being treated for Ebola. Confirmed cases have been reported in four African nations – Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria – while aid workers have been evacuated to the United States and Spain for treatment. On Wednesday a suspected case of Ebola killed a Saudi man in Jeddah who recently visited Sierra Leone on business, meaning human cases of Ebola – once entirely confined to Africa – now likely have traveled to four continents.
