The state commissioner for health, Dr Sampson Parker, who addressed journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, said about 50 high-risk contacts had been indentified among those that had primary contacts with the late doctor.
Parker stated that three of the people who had contacts with late Enemuo, including two staff of his hospital, Sam-Steel Clinic, and a staff of the Good Heart Hospital, where he died, had been moved to the treatment centre at Edoha community in Emohua local government area of the state.
He said, “Also, movement of corpses within and outside the state must be supervised; there must be death certificates and we must know the cause of the death. So, you cannot just move corpses here and there without clearance from the Ministry of Health. In fact, the police will stop you and ask for clearance. Before corpses are released from the mortuary, even the attendants will ask for the documents; before they come in and before they are released.
“The governor will meet with church leaders tomorrow — all church leaders in Rivers. He will meet them by 10am. He will in the same vein meet with all traditional rulers on Tuesday by 10am. I have been telling you before now that almost 200 persons have been traced. I keep on telling you that; that is because, out of this number, we are still to be in touch with about 60 of them. I will explain the reason later.
“But 50 high-risk contacts have been identified. Quickly, the reason why I said so is because a lot of the news, stigma, and all the rest, these persons are not coming up; we are still on them. In fact, we are concentrating on these names that we have found, and still going for new ones. Every day, it improves; it is getting better by the day.
“We now have three persons at the treatment centre at Edoha; a pharmacist at Sam-Steel Hospital and doctor that worked with Dr Enemuo at that Sam-Steel Hospital, and also a lady that was at the Good Heart Hospital while Dr Enemuo was there. However, they have not been confirmed; we are waiting for the result of the investigation. Today, we should have them. Also, let me quickly tell you that Mrs Enemuo is in a stable condition in Lagos. I am telling you these so that people will know that this is not a death sentence and come out.”
The commissioner advised worship centres against maintaining admission wards in the premises, as well as laying hands on people who may have had contact with Enemuo, and appealed to all those who had contacts with the late doctor or visited Sam-Steel Clinic, Good Heart Hospital and Mandate Garden Hotels to report to the Ministry of Health for checks.