Nigeria Hotel Association (NHA) in collaboration with Rivers State Ministry of Tourism has commenced Ebola virus protection and prevention sensitization in Rivers State with a call on hoteliers not to panic as fear can easily kill.
Speaking, the World Health Organization (WHO) personnel told participants to screen their customers and if found positive should carefully isolate such and notify the relevant authorities.
WHO representatives further told the audience that Ebola is not a death sentence and so they should not be threatened if they come across a victim, explaining that all infected persons will not die in as much as they care identified on time and treatments required are received.
Sokari Davies who represented the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism said that the disease came into the country through a tourist and the first place of contact was a hotel which is a hospitality industry. She explained that hospitality workers are at risk of the disease even if no hotelier has been reportedly affected by the virus.
Davies urged hotel authorities to place the right persons in the right positions so that the person will know what to do at the proper time as this will help protect them at work.
Considering the poor attendance at the workshop she asked the NHA to urgently arrange another workshop that will bring millions of hotel workers out there so that they will know how to handle the disease.
Speaking to newsmen, shortly after the briefing the state chairman of the Association, Mr. Eugene O. Nwauzi advised hoteliers to keep to the rule of regular hand washing, avoid touching an infected person their cloths and their body fluids as well as avoiding touching corpses of Ebola victims with bare hands, and that they should not eat bush meat and fruits eaten by bats and other animals as said by the health officers.
He advised the people to visit clinic if they experience headache, fever, vomiting, pains, diarrhea, red eye and rashes. ###
Mene Gbarabe
