Founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, has told Ebola victims in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to stay in their respective countries.
The clergyman made the statement after visiting government health officials implored him not to allow anybody infected with the virus to come into the church from the affected countries.
In a message posted on the church’s official Facebook page and signed by himself, Joshua cautioned those suffering from the deadly Ebola Virus Disease against “crossing borders” for any reason.
“What makes you a good citizen makes you a good Christian. There is a law in every country that bars Ebola victims from crossing borders. Obey the law of your land and it shall be well with you. Obey the law of the land by not crossing the borders of your nation with Ebola virus,” he wrote in the message, which was classified as an “important notice” on the website of the church.
Meanwhile, following the report that one of the doctors that treated the Liberian-born American, Patrick Sawyer, who died of the Ebola disease, had contracted the virus, Nigerians have appealed to the striking members of the Nigerian Medical Association to suspend their industrial action.
A social commentator and civil rights activist, Israel Mbaebie, said it was “shameful” that the doctors would allegedly exercise apathy to the health of the nation in the face of an imminent outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease.
“It is a real shame to Nigerian doctors who have betrayed the Hippocratic Oath. Even if the striking doctors call off their strike today, they have completely lost my respect for betraying the Oath. We would remember the health officials (not striking members of the Nigerian Medical Association) who risk their dear lives daily to contain the Ebola outbreak,” Mbaebie tweeted.
But a medical doctor, Hamid Adediran, stated that it was unfair for the public to lambast striking members of the NMA over an outbreak of the Ebola virus.
Adediran argued that even medical doctors were Nigerian citizens and so, they should not be “cowed” into suspending their strike based on the Hippocratic Oath.
He noted that the public would do well to direct all pleas to the FG and not the NMA, adding that government knew the right thing to do to end the strike.
He said, “Everybody is asking medical doctors to suspend the ongoing NMA strike because of the Ebola virus. For your information, hazard allowance is part of the demands yet unmet. Will the N5000 being given as hazard allowance be sufficient to manage the poor doctor (who contracted the virus) that treated Patrick Sawyer now?
“If she doesn’t survive it, is she indemnified? People should be fair on doctors. Doctors are citizens too. People should not attempt to cow us with a line in the Hippocratic Oath. The oath starts with dignity in practice,” Adediran argued.
Also, the leadership of the NMA explained that the strike was not targeted at the public, but meant to compel the FG to do the needful in the health sector.
The association described the strike as a battle to save what was left of the health sector and aimed at enabling its continued functioning, as well as positioning it for better service delivery.
Writing on its official Twitter page, the medical association added that claims of “cracks” within the NMA over the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease vis-à-vis the strike was untrue.
“Claims of cracks within the NMA is deceitful and an attempt to further mislead the Nigerian public. The NMA has been one and will remain so,” the medical association said.
Another medical doctor, Chijioke Kaduru, has urged the Federal Government to allow health parastatals to “meet and discuss” with the members of the public so as to bring about a “citizen-engineered response” to an outbreak of the virus.
He also urged the Lagos State Government to make the care of the infected female doctor a priority.
“A doctor is reported to have picked up the Ebola virus in the line of duty and that is horrible news. It shouldn’t be a tool for politicking. The LASG have to throw its full weight behind the care of the infected doctor,” Kaduru wrote on Twitter.
Kaduru observed that while it was laudable that several educational materials on the deadly virus were circulating online and offline, the preparation for a response to an outbreak was still poor.
“I am still disappointed in the response from our authorities. The Ebola virus doesn’t discriminate and Western hospitals won’t help us this time,” the medical doctor added.
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