By Sola Ogundipe & Victoria Ojeme
THE Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has made use of hand gloves and face masks mandatory by its staff at all ports of entry into the country, to avoid bodily contact with in-coming passengers in compliance with the directive of the Federal Ministry of Health for avoiding Ebola Virus infection.

Disclosing this to Vanguard in Abuja, the Public Relations Officer, NIS, Mr. Chukwuemeka Obua, also noted that in line with inter-agency cooperation and synergy, the Service is committed to always referring passengers who appear unwell to Port Health Authorities for close examination.

Obua said, “This has been the role the world over since immigration remains the first contact visitors on arriving a country.

The third measure we are taking is that no new or additional documents have been introduced for visitors to Nigeria other than the required health certificate of inoculations/vaccinations required by certain category of persons. We should realise too that there is no known preventive vaccine against or cure for the Ebola virus.”

He stressed that the NIS has deployed the first batch of Special Border Patrol Corp to beef up security at the country’s expansive border, adding, “This is in line with the robust security architecture designed by the current Comptroller General for effective border policing and management as approved by government.

All persons, not just NIS personnel, believed to have had contact with Patrick Sawyer, have been screened and tested for traces of infection and none has been reported showing any trace of the  infection.”

Meanwhile, the President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, Dr. Steven Oluwale has harped on the importance of maintaining strict border control for the Ebola virus. Oluwale, who maintained that tracing, screening, and follow-up of all contacts are required, blamed the continuous movement of infected persons as responsible for the continued spread of  Ebola.

He said,“With improved transportation by air and road, it should not be difficult for the epidemic to spread quickly. Early intervention, specifically supportive care has been linked to survival. Typically the incubation period is less than three weeks. It is known, however, that the virus can be recovered from an infected person after more than eight weeks.”