The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has approved weekly payments of N100,000 per person for people placed in isolation or quarantine as part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The NCDC Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this on Sunday during a press briefing on the outbreak.
Idris said the payments followed complaints from some contacts about the cost of feeding, accommodation and maintaining their families while under public health monitoring.
“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families.
“We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining,” he said.
Idris said the payments were not part of the agency’s original response plan but had become necessary because of the circumstances surrounding the outbreak.
“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” he said.
He said state governments should also be prepared to fund contact tracing, isolation and other response activities within their jurisdictions, adding that the support should extend beyond the FCT to other states if emergencies arise.
On the number of people being monitored, Idris said Nigeria had identified 53 primary contacts for follow-up. They include healthcare workers, household members, domestic staff and personnel involved in collecting samples from the patient.
He said public health teams were categorising the contacts according to their level of exposure and monitoring them for symptoms. Anyone who develops symptoms would be assessed and tested.
The NCDC has also made isolation arrangements for contacts who require them, with officials monitoring their health throughout the 21-day incubation period following their last possible exposure.
Nigeria confirmed an Ebola case on October 20 involving a woman who travelled from Uganda and tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. She developed symptoms on October 7 and sought medical attention in Abuja on October 11 before testing positive nine days later.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the NCDC are coordinating the response to contain the outbreak and prevent further transmission.