Ebola: Doctors Reject September 22 Schools’ Resumption Date

The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has rejected the directive given by the Federal Government that all primary and secondary schools resume on Monday September 22, 2014.

Speaking through Olawunmi Layaki, NMA National Publicity Secretary, the association said they expect all schools to remain closed until December or early next year when all Ebola suspects under surveillance would have been cleared and certified free of the virus.

The medical association maintained that the resumption date could be shifted till next year or in the next three months if it would take that long to contain the spread of the Ebola Virus disease, EVD.

The NMA urged parents not to be in a hurry for children’s resumption, as Ebola will take another dimension if it should enter any school.

“Children cannot survive isolation like adults. It will not augur well for the country if we have another outbreak due to carelessness,” Layaki said.

In a similar vein, Tope Ojo, chairman of the Lagos State chapter of NMA, said most public schools lack basic hygienic facilities; a factor that would expose the students to easy spread of the virus. He said the government knows that it takes a longer time for children to get used to the principles of hygiene and sanitation adding that children are even more vulnerable because they would play with one another other without regards for their health status.

“Waiting till October when at least the situations in Rivers and Lagos states would have been conclusively managed is another safety measure the government should have taken,” Ojo said.