Abuja Teaching Hospital Explains Why It Issued Marburg Disease Alert

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The authorities of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada has said that it’s memo on Marbug disease and COVID-19 were a normal health advisory meant to ensure that its staff maintain required surveillance and hygiene by observing all protocols of prevention.

Against the backdrop of the apprehension caused by a memo issued by the Deputy Director in charge of the hospital’s information unit, Sani Suleiman, last Friday, the management said there was no cause for alarm as no outbreak of the disease had been reported in Nigeria or in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
While responding to enquiries from journalists, Suleiman said the internal memo was merely a health advisory intended for the staff of the hospital.

“This supposed to be an internal memo meant only for the management and staff but released to the public. It was simply meant to caution the workers against abandoning the protocols.

“I wrote that memo to sensitise the people in the hospital but I think by Monday, we will probably take measures to explain further for people to understand. So it is not like there is an outbreak in Nigeria or in the FCT,” he added.

The memo, which was titled; “Outbreak of Marburg Disease and COVID-19 Infections,” had urged the staff to ensure adequate surveillance and hygiene against the disease by observing all protocols.

It read: “The management of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital wishes to notify the entire hospital community of an outbreak of Marbug (sic) disease and upsurge in COVID-19 infection.
“Consequently, the attention of all Head of Departments and members of staff is hereby drawn to ensure adequate surveillance and hygiene by observing all protocols of prevention.”

The memo also cautioned on the increasing cases of COVID-19 infections and advised the workers against letting down the guards.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)  had last month  declared a disease epidemic emergency in the country following the outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) and it’s detection in one of the West African country, Ghana.

Due to the development, the centre said it has heightened surveillance at the border and all other entries points to the country. However, the NCDC said both importation of the disease and its potential impact on the Nigerian population was moderate.