Don’t let this Ebola crises go to waste (2)

We should not just go through Ebola crisis without learning anything from the crisis. In Nigeria as in many West African Countries, there are a number of ways we can benefit from the current Ebola crisis. A few of these are listed below

Establishment of a disaster management team specifically for communicable diseases Although the current efforts of the minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu is very commendable, given the gross under preparedness of the nation across board, it is the opinion of this writer that the gentleman professor is too busy to run a crises plan. The Government should run this as a typical project management response plan. An appropriate crises management team well-resourced by a high caliber Nigerian should be set up to manage the outbreak of this crisis. The CEO of this body should in turn report to the Minister of health. This team should be able to define rules of engagement between Nigeria and other neighboring countries. The team should be resourced with persons knowledgeable enough on how to communicate with the public in such a manner as not to disseminate fear and paralyze society. There are currently conflicting media reports between various agents of Government on the number of cases, their severity, modes of administering care, rewards and protection for care givers etc. The committee should be able to take a long term view on communicable diseases and advise Government on the necessity to build crisis response centers across the country. The present shady and poor infrastructure in care centers is a shame to this country and should awaken the conscience of every Nigerian. That a person is infected with a communicable disease is not a reason to be traumatized by lack of adequate care. Like the Emory University Communicable disease center where two Americans were cured of the dreaded Ebola disease last week, Dr Adadevoh and other persons who have died of Ebola would still be alive today if such a facility existed. Thanks to the swift response of the Governor of Lagos state who immediately provided a temporary facility; but we need more crisis preparedness as a nation at this stage of our growth than such ad hoc means of dealing with a national disaster of this type.

Adequate Training of Medical personnel – Nigerian Medical personnel need to be regularly trained. The Nigerian Medical and Dental Association should go beyond merely collecting annual dues from their members and enforcement of CPD points. The CPD should be regulated to compulsorily address risks that the system faces from time to time. I dare say that 99.99% of medical personnel have no way of determining an Ebola case until Dr Adadevoh and the First Consultant Medical practice paid the ultimate price. Managers of healthcare facilities themselves need to do more. They will need to strengthen their resource capability in handling a crisis. It is impossible for anyone, institutions or Government to prepare for every crisis, when some crisis cannot even be imagined. However, it is essential that a crisis readiness plan be reviewed at least every three months. A crisis readiness plan when built into an organization’s overall strategy will save us from ad hoc measures that bedevil us once an a crisis comes meeting us unprepared. 

Research – A close friend of mine on hearing that an American has been diagnosed of having Ebola rejoiced that at last a cure will be found. Two days later I was in a meeting of some corporate CEOs in Abuja and I was stunned when one of the CEOs said that Ebola has come to an end with the diagnoses of two American citizens. This line of thought is pervasive in much of Africa. We leave innovation and research to Americans why we play on social media, wasting away the best that God has given us on Facebook. This Ebola crisis should redirect our attention to rethink this laissez-faire way of thinking. It is time for us to invest in independent research without waiting for America to do our job. Although Ebola was first discovered in Africa in 1976, no single African country has any research going on for a cure to this fatal disease. This is rather sad. The time to rally our collective conscience is now. Let us use the moment of this crisis to build better consensus to fund research and innovation. 

Personal and institutional hygiene – At the personal level, the gains of personal hygiene have been quite obvious. At church last Sunday, the pastor said, turn to your neighbor and welcome one another. Not many carried out that instruction. A good number of worshippers rather nodded the new Ebola greeting -there have been numerous images of new Ebola methods of greeting. Nigerians, and indeed Africans are notorious for poor personal hygiene. With Ebola, sanitizer sales have hit the roof. This should not be a thing that should be practiced only with the scourge of Ebola. We ought to make this a way of life. The other day, my daughter who attends a prominent private University in Nigeria complained of too many rats in the students’ hostel. I told her not to worry, that with Ebola the University authorities know enough that personal hygiene has to be at the forefront of whatever they do. One Ebola death in a University and that might mean the end of that institution. Individuals and Organizations of all kind need to put good sanitation and hygiene at the forefront of their operations. A reactive response could spell doom for any organization.

Hospitals should seize the current momentum – Since the outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria, most major hospitals in Nigeria and Lagos in particular have been deserted. Hospital Managements should not allow this crisis go to waste. They should seize the current opportunity to allow members of staff with outstanding vacations to proceed on leave; they should utilize the lull to carry out much needed facility upgrading. This is the best time to invest in their human assets – training programs that have been long overdue should be done now. Lingering human resource problems long unresolved should be resolved now. They should use the opportunity to upgrade their crisis readiness preparedness. Using Ebola as a rallying point, they should be able to build robust consensus in issues that were hitherto difficult to resolve. 

Tunde Ekpekurede