Wednesday 6 August 2014

NEWS:: T.B Joshua warns ebola victims not to come near him???

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 the visit from
government health officials who 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.

Source: Punch

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