Fake thermometres worsen Ebola fever

Fake thermometres worsen Ebola fever

The Ebola scare in the country is throwing up ethical issues, especially among doctors, BUKOLA ADEBAYO reports

Thirty-three-year old accountant, Yemi Adeoye, had a hectic time last Saturday convincing officials supervising the professional examination that he was fit to write the last leg of his examination.

Adeoye, who had come to the centre bubbling with life, had his ego deflated as he attempted to enter the examination hall. He was denied entry for allegedly having high temperature after a medical check. Indeed, security operatives assigned to the centre had checked his temperature with a non- contact thermal thermometre and noted that it was above 37 degrees. In their thinking, Adeoye was a health threat to others who had converged on the centre for the examination.

Adeoye, who narrated this encounter to our correspondent on Monday, noted that he would have missed the examination but for the quick decision, he and some other persons affected by the “sudden embargo” took on that day.

He said, “We had to go to a private hospital to get our temperature checked and it was normal. A doctor had to come back with us to retake our temperature in front of the examination officials. It was after this encounter that they allowed us in for the examination. Before then, we were an hour late into the examination.

“Besides, the doctor later found out that the thermometre in use at the centre had no clear manufacturers’ name, just as it was not properly set.”

The ordeal Adeoye and some of his colleagues faced was not peculiar to them. Since the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in the country last July, its scare has thrown up many challenges not just in the hospitals but also in religious places and work places.

Particularly in work places, workers and visitors nowadays undergo temperature checks before they gain access into the organistions.

Agreed many have applauded the exercise, it has also received knocks, especially among doctors. In fact, many public health experts argue that though the Ebola prevention campaign is commendable, they also frown on the arbitrary use of thermal thermometres by non-health professionals.

They also note that many of the testing equipment are fake products. Justifying this, NAFDAC on Tuesday in Lagos paraded three persons suspected to be dealing with fake Ebola testing and treatment kits.

Speaking on the development, a member of the Ebola Prevention Committee in Lagos, Dr. Doyin Odubanjo, raised the alarm that many of the available Ebola testing and prevention kits in the market, including thermal thermometres, Personal Protective Equipment and hand sanitisers are fake and may not give accurate results.

Odubanjo notes, “We have had cases were PPEs and some Ebola testing and prevention kits, such as thermometres and hand sanitisers purchased in the market were fake and others were of a substandard quality. Counterfeiters are cashing in on the Ebola situation to make profit. They know that many people will buy anything they say prevents or detects Ebola without cross checking or verifying the authenticity in most cases.

“Again, our observation shows that in many cases, security operatives and receptionists are carrying out this medical assignment. Should that be the case? There is no guarantee in the kind of medical judgment they will pass with these facilities.”

Fake hand sanitisers and Ebola test kits seized by NAFDAC…on Tuesday. Photo: Stanley Ogidi

Odubanjo, a public health physician also warns that denying people access to places because of temperature reading is unethical. According to him, it is a violation of their fundamental human rights of the affected individuals.

The trend, he says may fuel the epidemic of fear of Ebola and increase stigmatisation.

Odubanjo adds, “The way it is being carried out here is unethical in most cases. You do not just take people’s temperature and tell them sorry you have a high temperature and so you cannot enter into an office. There are guidelines that have to follow when testing and screening people for diseases in medicine.

“It is just like screening people for HIV or hypertension. You do not just take blood or urine samples and say you have HIV. Testing for disease conditions is accompanied with guidance and public health counselling services. How many organisations have health unit manned by health officials that can professionally carry out these services? If you deny someone access to a banking hall for instance on this basis, which has not been medically verified, that organisation can be sued. If you deny people their fundamental rights, you are liable. We must be careful not to fuel fear which can frustrate Ebola surveillance.”

Another public health physician, Dr. Tosin Akinsanya, corroborates this. According to him, that a person has fever or a high temperature does not mean that he/she has Ebola. High temperature or fever, Akinsanya says, is a symptom of various health conditions.

Akinsanya adds, “There are 1001 reasons in medicine why people have high temperature. For instance, your temperature after work and before work will be different. The temperature of someone working under the sun and those working in an air-conditioned environment will be different.

“If you are tensed because you are about to go in for an interview or a test, you may break out in fever. If you are under stress or even if you have cough, you may break out in fever. We need to educate Nigerians. Even in the hospital, you do not suspect or isolate a patient for Ebola testing and screening until the patient has at least three of the symptoms of Ebola that includes fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Even if you have had contact with an infected patient, you cannot be quarantined or isolated till you have showed these symptoms, how much more those who have not had contact with an EVD patient.

“The security official taking your temperature is not a doctor, so he/she is not in a position to say that a person with high fever poses a health risk to others? Not only is it unethical, it is wrong to screen and take decisions that are not on the basis of medicine.”

The physician advises that rather than denying people access to public places, individuals with high temperature or symptoms of fever should be counselled and monitored by trained officials according to international guidelines.

He says, “If you have someone with a temperature higher than 38 degrees and if you are using an original thermal thermometer not a toy, you are supposed to counsel such an individual in a manner that he will not end up evading treatment because of stigma. This is why I think that it is only trained health officials that can screen people.”