The deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has left over 2,461 people
dead in Africa, spreading a wave of fear across the globe. The
helplessness of Nigerian universities in the face of the disease
ravaging the continent is obvious.
Weeks after the incident was first reported in the country,
investigation revealed that none of the teaching hospitals owned by
universities has the facility to quarantine an Ebola patient, much less
offer any medical help. Also, none of the laboratories in these teaching
hospitals has the capacity for a sustained and safe enquiry into a
highly infectious disease like the Ebola.The World Health Organisation
(WHO) said the current outbreak has 55 per cent mortality rate, with
Liberia having 1,296 deaths, followed by Guinea with 595, Sierra –Leone
562 and eight death tolls in Nigeria. United States’ President, Barack
Obama, described the outbreak as “a threat to global security.”
The high fatality rate of the virus has aroused global response by
researchers and scientists, who are, at present, working assiduously in
their laboratories to produce a vaccine that would save humanity from
looming threat. Sadly, Nigeria has little role to play in this global
race for Ebola vaccine. Rather than compete with scientists around the
world, the outbreak of Ebola disease has further exposed the poor
attention accorded to research, as well as the rot and dearth of modern
facilities in laboratories across the country.
The recent incident at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where a female student suspected to have been infected by the deadly virus was transported all the way to Lagos for screening at the Yaba centre revealed the utter helpless of public universities and their health institutions to manage health threats.
In developed countries, universities enjoy huge research grants from the government and corporate organisations. Wirth adequate funding and well-equipped laboratories, researchers break fallow ground in search of new discoveries. But the situation in Nigeria is different. Paucity of fund in past years has brought research work to a halt, prompting most scholars to recycle resource materials for teaching.
Some lecturers in public universities told Education Review that they lack the encouragement required for very useful research proposals. Aside starving them of fund, some of them complained that their works are never recognized or rewarded. The products of their years of long suffering, they said, are cast aside and entombed in archives defacing many public universities.
Compare Nigerian university health institutions with the Emory University Teaching Hospital, where two American aid workers infected with the virus, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, were quarantined and successfully treated. The facility, located in Atlanta, has a special isolation unit that handles cases of infectious disease. The facility was set up as a proactive measure against infectious diseases many years ago when there was no threat of Ebola disease, or any chances of an American contracting the virus.Investing in this facility at a time when there was no threat to anybody later became the saving grace of two Samaritan Americans that imported Ebola virus to American soil.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Bruce Ribner, said the hospital performed extensive blood and urine tests on the two patients and consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before deciding the two missionaries were ready to be released. Both are now likely immune to the strain of Ebola with which they were infected.
Emory University Hospital has a specially built isolation unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases. It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provides an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation. This unit has very different capabilities normally provided to isolate patients in other hospitals. It is one of only five such facilities in the country.
Emory University Hospital physicians, nurses and staff are highly trained in the specific and unique protocols and procedures necessary to treat and care for this type of patient. For this specially trained staff, these procedures are practiced on a regular basis throughout the year to make them fully prepared for this type of situation. Emory Healthcare’s mission is to heal and to advance knowledge. The team of health care professionals who cared for these Ebola patients has trained for years to treat and contain the most dangerous infectious diseases in the world.The experience, understanding and learning that Emory’s medical professionals have gained during this process will be applied, not only to this particular disease, but to other emergent diseases that the world may confront in future.
During their stay at the Emory University Teaching Hospital, five doctors and 21 nurses attended to them. Aside managing the deadly case successfully, the doctors broadened their medical knowledge while treating the patients. They were able to carefully monitor levels of electrolytes in the patients, as well as any abnormalities in their blood clotting.
The President, Association of African Universities (AAU) and Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof Olusola Oyewole, told Education Review that the foremost teaching facilities at Ibadan, Zaria, Lagos and Nsukka have personnel who have the competence for Ebola research but they lack the research funding for long and sustained enquiry into the project
“Our country does not give good support to research. Research is not a priority in our national funding agenda. So, to confront the Ebola challenge, we cannot rely on our national facilities for solution. We still have to depend on researches done outside Nigeria to stand up to the current problem,” he said.
Oyewole argued that universities in the country have the human competence to carry out successful Ebola research. However, he said such endeavour wouldn’t be possible in a setting where electricity remains epileptic. He also warned that embarking on such research without adequate facilities to keep the virus in check could spell disastrous consequences.
“I am sure that any researcher that embarks on Ebola research in Nigeria today will be at a risk. He will not have facilities to curtail the spread of the virus outside their laboratories. A laboratory that has not been working on Ebola research before now cannot wake up to begin work on it now, because of the current emergency. We need centres for infectious disease research that will be supported to do long term research and even start to investigate yet- to -emerge future epidemics,” he advised.
While corroborating Oyewole’s claim, the Registrar, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT), Dr. Ighodalo Folorunso Ijagbone, told our reporter that some virology laboratories in teaching hospitals in the country might be able to carry out the diagnosis of the Ebola disease if they have requisite facilities.
“The universities have the human competencies but usually lack research equipment and enabling environment, such as constant power supply, to maintain reagents and the organisms (virus) at low temperatures is a major challenge. The government has done very well in handling the scourge but should extend the efforts to equip the research laboratories to sustain the control and preventive measures against Ebola and similar viral diseases,” he said.
The former Vice Chancellor of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Prof Sherifdeen Tella, reeled out lamentations, while reacting to the issue. He said the country has always betrayed lack of preparedness to handle emergencies, and urged the government to take proactive steps as a demonstration of good leadership.
“There is need for creating a number of well-funded regional research villages for medicine, science and technology for special interventions. He suggested that these centres can be coordinated by Abuja centre. Only academics with research grant will be allowed to work there and that should be on ad hoc basis,” he advised.
The Secretary General, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, Prof Wilson Erhun, told Education Review that although the facilities for research might not be 100 per cent present, Nigerian universities have departments of virology, immunology, micro-biology which could be properly harnessed to respond positively. He noted that more could be done with better facilities in place.
Prof Erhun maintained that nothing was wrong with Nigerian scholars. He noted that Ebola is a new disease, noting that it would take at least seven to 10 years for researchers to come up with a vaccine that would be effective in treating the affected patients.
“For us at the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, we have started sensitising our people in terms of research into this area. I know that some people have looked at bitter kola and they are still looking at other possible medications. Researchers are also looking at food supplements that could help to manage the condition. Researchers are beginning to make proposals and government should also make funds available for some of these proposals to see the light of the day”, he said.
The Director, Nativeworld Development Consultant, Dr Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu, expressed similar opinion when he lamented that lack of visionary leadership has paused national development.
“Nigeria, if she had a proactive leadership, would have the competent personnel, research capabilities and facilities to tackle medical challenges, including outbreak of diseases like Ebola virus. What we have had are reactionary governments that run from pillar to post with every medical challenge. Meanwhile, the present administration should assemble proven medical experts and empower them to seek solutions to our medical problems,” he added.
Some medical practitioners, who spoke with our reporter, agreed unanimously that they possess the competence to handle difficult cases if provided with required facilities. They urged the government to invest more in the health sector through the provision of modern facilities, laboratories and exposure to international health conferences.
The Medical Director of Royal Cross Hospital, Nsukka, Dr Romanus Ezike, told our reporter that Nigerian doctors rank among the best in the world. He called for synergy and provision of enabling environment, especially modern facilities, to get the expected scientific breakthrough. He further stressed that the country boast of a large number of seasoned scholars and researchers with the competence to carry out sophisticated medical research on Ebola and other infectious diseases.
Also, Dr Samuel Eze, who graduated from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, argued that Nigerian university teaching hospitals can handle infectious diseases like the Ebola.
“We have both human and managerial skills to contend with any form of disease outbreak in the country. In terms of Nigerian universities having the competence of research to tackle the Ebola, I can say no! This is a highly contagious and deadly virus that should be handled in isolation centres. We may have good brain but due to poor implementation of life insurance in the country, it might be difficult to see those who chose to sign their death warrant to carry out the research,” he explained.
Another medical personnel, Dr Marcel Onochie, who graduated from UNIZIK disagreed with Dr Eze’s claim, stating that teaching hospitals in the country do not have the facilities to handle Ebola virus. He pointed out that Nigerian doctors do not fall short of the expected standard of performance in the medical profession but they lack the operational tools.
“Our universities have competent manpower to initiate researches that would cure the ailment. It only requires a stronger political will,” he added.
Despite the fears expressed by several parents over the safety of their children and wards in school, most lecturers allayed such fear and urged schools to reopen. The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Research, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Duro Oni, expressed the preparedness of his university to handle any threatening situation saying, “Our medical centre at the University of Lagos is not only adequately prepared, our students are in session and post graduate exams are ongoing.”
Prof Oni said there is a higher awareness among the populace on the Ebola Virus Disease, noting that washing of hands with soaps and use of hand sanitizers have become a daily ritual in most places.
To ensure safety on campus, the Vice Chancellor of Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, Prof Ibrahim Kolo, suggested that hostels and lecture facilities should be decontaminated before schools reopen.
“Health officials should be strategically located and equipped with screening equipment for random checks in hostels and lecture venue entries. I am not sure the threat of the virus should stop schools from resuming. But authorities should take extra measures as the federal and state governments are doing to educate students on what to do to keep the virus at bay. Remember we just lost six months of academic calendar,” he said.
The recent incident at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where a female student suspected to have been infected by the deadly virus was transported all the way to Lagos for screening at the Yaba centre revealed the utter helpless of public universities and their health institutions to manage health threats.
In developed countries, universities enjoy huge research grants from the government and corporate organisations. Wirth adequate funding and well-equipped laboratories, researchers break fallow ground in search of new discoveries. But the situation in Nigeria is different. Paucity of fund in past years has brought research work to a halt, prompting most scholars to recycle resource materials for teaching.
Some lecturers in public universities told Education Review that they lack the encouragement required for very useful research proposals. Aside starving them of fund, some of them complained that their works are never recognized or rewarded. The products of their years of long suffering, they said, are cast aside and entombed in archives defacing many public universities.
Compare Nigerian university health institutions with the Emory University Teaching Hospital, where two American aid workers infected with the virus, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, were quarantined and successfully treated. The facility, located in Atlanta, has a special isolation unit that handles cases of infectious disease. The facility was set up as a proactive measure against infectious diseases many years ago when there was no threat of Ebola disease, or any chances of an American contracting the virus.Investing in this facility at a time when there was no threat to anybody later became the saving grace of two Samaritan Americans that imported Ebola virus to American soil.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Bruce Ribner, said the hospital performed extensive blood and urine tests on the two patients and consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before deciding the two missionaries were ready to be released. Both are now likely immune to the strain of Ebola with which they were infected.
Emory University Hospital has a specially built isolation unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases. It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provides an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation. This unit has very different capabilities normally provided to isolate patients in other hospitals. It is one of only five such facilities in the country.
Emory University Hospital physicians, nurses and staff are highly trained in the specific and unique protocols and procedures necessary to treat and care for this type of patient. For this specially trained staff, these procedures are practiced on a regular basis throughout the year to make them fully prepared for this type of situation. Emory Healthcare’s mission is to heal and to advance knowledge. The team of health care professionals who cared for these Ebola patients has trained for years to treat and contain the most dangerous infectious diseases in the world.The experience, understanding and learning that Emory’s medical professionals have gained during this process will be applied, not only to this particular disease, but to other emergent diseases that the world may confront in future.
During their stay at the Emory University Teaching Hospital, five doctors and 21 nurses attended to them. Aside managing the deadly case successfully, the doctors broadened their medical knowledge while treating the patients. They were able to carefully monitor levels of electrolytes in the patients, as well as any abnormalities in their blood clotting.
The President, Association of African Universities (AAU) and Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof Olusola Oyewole, told Education Review that the foremost teaching facilities at Ibadan, Zaria, Lagos and Nsukka have personnel who have the competence for Ebola research but they lack the research funding for long and sustained enquiry into the project
“Our country does not give good support to research. Research is not a priority in our national funding agenda. So, to confront the Ebola challenge, we cannot rely on our national facilities for solution. We still have to depend on researches done outside Nigeria to stand up to the current problem,” he said.
Oyewole argued that universities in the country have the human competence to carry out successful Ebola research. However, he said such endeavour wouldn’t be possible in a setting where electricity remains epileptic. He also warned that embarking on such research without adequate facilities to keep the virus in check could spell disastrous consequences.
“I am sure that any researcher that embarks on Ebola research in Nigeria today will be at a risk. He will not have facilities to curtail the spread of the virus outside their laboratories. A laboratory that has not been working on Ebola research before now cannot wake up to begin work on it now, because of the current emergency. We need centres for infectious disease research that will be supported to do long term research and even start to investigate yet- to -emerge future epidemics,” he advised.
While corroborating Oyewole’s claim, the Registrar, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT), Dr. Ighodalo Folorunso Ijagbone, told our reporter that some virology laboratories in teaching hospitals in the country might be able to carry out the diagnosis of the Ebola disease if they have requisite facilities.
“The universities have the human competencies but usually lack research equipment and enabling environment, such as constant power supply, to maintain reagents and the organisms (virus) at low temperatures is a major challenge. The government has done very well in handling the scourge but should extend the efforts to equip the research laboratories to sustain the control and preventive measures against Ebola and similar viral diseases,” he said.
The former Vice Chancellor of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Prof Sherifdeen Tella, reeled out lamentations, while reacting to the issue. He said the country has always betrayed lack of preparedness to handle emergencies, and urged the government to take proactive steps as a demonstration of good leadership.
“There is need for creating a number of well-funded regional research villages for medicine, science and technology for special interventions. He suggested that these centres can be coordinated by Abuja centre. Only academics with research grant will be allowed to work there and that should be on ad hoc basis,” he advised.
The Secretary General, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, Prof Wilson Erhun, told Education Review that although the facilities for research might not be 100 per cent present, Nigerian universities have departments of virology, immunology, micro-biology which could be properly harnessed to respond positively. He noted that more could be done with better facilities in place.
Prof Erhun maintained that nothing was wrong with Nigerian scholars. He noted that Ebola is a new disease, noting that it would take at least seven to 10 years for researchers to come up with a vaccine that would be effective in treating the affected patients.
“For us at the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, we have started sensitising our people in terms of research into this area. I know that some people have looked at bitter kola and they are still looking at other possible medications. Researchers are also looking at food supplements that could help to manage the condition. Researchers are beginning to make proposals and government should also make funds available for some of these proposals to see the light of the day”, he said.
The Director, Nativeworld Development Consultant, Dr Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu, expressed similar opinion when he lamented that lack of visionary leadership has paused national development.
“Nigeria, if she had a proactive leadership, would have the competent personnel, research capabilities and facilities to tackle medical challenges, including outbreak of diseases like Ebola virus. What we have had are reactionary governments that run from pillar to post with every medical challenge. Meanwhile, the present administration should assemble proven medical experts and empower them to seek solutions to our medical problems,” he added.
Some medical practitioners, who spoke with our reporter, agreed unanimously that they possess the competence to handle difficult cases if provided with required facilities. They urged the government to invest more in the health sector through the provision of modern facilities, laboratories and exposure to international health conferences.
The Medical Director of Royal Cross Hospital, Nsukka, Dr Romanus Ezike, told our reporter that Nigerian doctors rank among the best in the world. He called for synergy and provision of enabling environment, especially modern facilities, to get the expected scientific breakthrough. He further stressed that the country boast of a large number of seasoned scholars and researchers with the competence to carry out sophisticated medical research on Ebola and other infectious diseases.
Also, Dr Samuel Eze, who graduated from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, argued that Nigerian university teaching hospitals can handle infectious diseases like the Ebola.
“We have both human and managerial skills to contend with any form of disease outbreak in the country. In terms of Nigerian universities having the competence of research to tackle the Ebola, I can say no! This is a highly contagious and deadly virus that should be handled in isolation centres. We may have good brain but due to poor implementation of life insurance in the country, it might be difficult to see those who chose to sign their death warrant to carry out the research,” he explained.
Another medical personnel, Dr Marcel Onochie, who graduated from UNIZIK disagreed with Dr Eze’s claim, stating that teaching hospitals in the country do not have the facilities to handle Ebola virus. He pointed out that Nigerian doctors do not fall short of the expected standard of performance in the medical profession but they lack the operational tools.
“Our universities have competent manpower to initiate researches that would cure the ailment. It only requires a stronger political will,” he added.
Despite the fears expressed by several parents over the safety of their children and wards in school, most lecturers allayed such fear and urged schools to reopen. The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Research, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Duro Oni, expressed the preparedness of his university to handle any threatening situation saying, “Our medical centre at the University of Lagos is not only adequately prepared, our students are in session and post graduate exams are ongoing.”
Prof Oni said there is a higher awareness among the populace on the Ebola Virus Disease, noting that washing of hands with soaps and use of hand sanitizers have become a daily ritual in most places.
To ensure safety on campus, the Vice Chancellor of Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, Prof Ibrahim Kolo, suggested that hostels and lecture facilities should be decontaminated before schools reopen.
“Health officials should be strategically located and equipped with screening equipment for random checks in hostels and lecture venue entries. I am not sure the threat of the virus should stop schools from resuming. But authorities should take extra measures as the federal and state governments are doing to educate students on what to do to keep the virus at bay. Remember we just lost six months of academic calendar,” he said.
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