The Nigerian Medical Association on Monday, September 8, 2014 rejected the Federal Government’s orders to schools to resume on September 22 as against the October 12 resumption date.
This was disclosed through its National Secretary-General, Dr. Olawunmi Alayaki, stating that all schools should remain closed till all the high risk contact under surveillance for the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country are cleared.
“We are not happy with this decision on the resumption of schools. Schools should be shut till the last suspected case or patient is certified free of the virus,” the NMA said.
The NMA suggested that the resumption date should be shifted to December or next year because if the virus should spread to any school, it would take a different dimension.
It said, “ We can shift the resumption date till next year or in the next three months if that is the time it will take. Government should have enough time to follow the standard procedure for containing the virus.
“Parents have no reason to be in a hurry because if Ebola should enter any school, it will assume another dimension. Children cannot survive isolation like adults.
“Nigeria is peculiar because of her large population and we should be pragmatic and proactive. It will not augur well for the country if we have another outbreak due to carelessness.”
Also speaking on the issue, the Lagos state chapter of NMA said that the government should postpone the resumption date till when proper surveillance and monitoring of contacts in the affected states are completed.
Speaking through its chairman, Dr. Tope Ojo pointed out that some public and private schools in the country lacked basic hygiene and sanitary facilities that could help prevent the spread of the Ebola by pupils.
It stated, “It would not have cost the Federal Government anything to have waited till those under surveillance have completed the 21 days in all the states where they are being monitored.
“The government knows that it takes a longer time for children to get used to the idea of hygiene and sanitation. They are even more vulnerable because they would play with each other whether they are sick or not.
“How many children know that they should use hand sanitisers or avoid contact with anybody that has fever?
“Waiting till October when at least the situations in Rivers and Lagos states would have been conclusively managed is another safety measure the government should have taken . These kids are not studying to get a degree, so we are sure it would not have affected schools’ curricula.”
However, immediate president of the NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, expressed concern about the September 22 resumption date and the safety parameters the government had put in place before making that decision.
Enabulele said that many parents were not convinced that schools had met the safety standards for the prevention of Ebola to commence its resumption.
He added that if the government were set on the date, it should begin to check the sanitary facilities put in place by school authorities to ensure the safety of students.
Enabulele said, “We must know the parameters that the Federal Government used to arrive at the resumption date in the first place. Has the Federal Government carried out a safety assessment in registered schools in the country? There should be a checklist and only those who meet it should be certified fit to reopen.
“The minimum standard is that all schools should have a dispensary, a sick bay where sick children, especially those with fever, are properly managed and tested.”
Meanwhile, a consultant paediatrician with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba, Prof. Edamisan Temiye, called on government to ensure that schools had access to clean water on their premises.
Temiye said, “Governments must ensure that clean water flows on schools’ premises so that children can wash their hands regularly. Water is important for sanitation and it is the duty of government to ensure that citizens have access to it.
“Also, parents should take sick children to hospital. Don’t give them drugs and force them to go to school. Ebola can only be caught from a sick person. School authorities should watch out for and isolate sick children from others.
“Again school owners should give hand sanitisers to their pupils before allowing them into their premises. They should also have thermal thermometers to check the temperatures of their pupils before allowing them into their school premises.”
However, the minister of health who spoke with one of the doctors in Lagos, said that there was no cause for alarm over the directive to schools to resume on September 22.
“We have contained the situation. Ebola is no longer in the streets anywhere in Nigeria.
“We are working with the Federal Ministry of Education and we made it clear that in institutions having students returning from outside Nigeria, they should let us know,” he said.
“We will work with them and we have questionnaires which we are already using on airlines and ships coming into Nigeria as well as other means of transport. They will fill questionnaires. We will ask questions and conduct tests to see that they don’t have fever.”
