3 Ebola centres to be set up

Kwame Asare Boadu & Sebastian Syme Aug - 12 - 2014 , 07:43

Ghana is to have three Ebola isolation centres in the next two weeks.

They are the Tema General Hospital for the southern sector, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for the middle belt and the Tamale Teaching Hospital for the northern sector.

In an interview with the Presidential Press Corps after a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Action Group on Ebola at the Flagstaff House yesterday, the acting Director of Public Health, Dr Badu Sarkodie, declared, “We are on top of the situation.”

The meeting was called at the instance of President John Mahama to evaluate Ghana’s response strategy so far.

Health authorities in the country have so far assessed and evaluated 37 suspected cases of Ebola, with all testing negative.

However, they have cautioned against complacency, even as efforts are activated to contain any eventuality.

Outcomes

Giving the outcomes of the four-hour meeting, which was chaired by the Chief of Staff, Mr Prosper Bani, the acting director said it was decided that all regions set up isolation centres where suspected cases of the disease would be quarantined.

“All these are measures we are taking to contain the situation in case of an outbreak in the country,” Dr Sarkodie, who is also the Head of Surveillance at the Health Ministry, indicated.

The meeting further tackled the protection of health personnel who might come into direct contact with people suspected of having the virus.

On that score, he explained that more personal protective equipment would be supplied, noting that those already in the system were not enough.

“Currently, no country can say it is fully prepared, but what is important is that any time there is a plan, it should be activated when a case crops up,” he stated.

Political commitment

Dr Sarkodie noted the high political commitment to the fight against the disease and said President Mahama had himself wanted to chair the meeting but “one reason or another led him to delegate his Chief of Staff to chair it”.

“Once we have the political commitment, all of us should rally behind the government to ensure that the country has the best contingency plan in place,” he said.

No panic

Dr Sarkodie was particularly not enthused about the unnecessary panic created in the country about Ebola.

He attributed the situation to inadequate information to health staff and the public and said some health staff were not very clear on what do under the current circumstances.

While charging health personnel to update their knowledge on the disease, he stressed the need for them to know the case definition well to know what a suspected case was.

He described as needless the unnecessary panic that was created as a result of some suspected cases of Ebola in the country over the weekend.

Tests at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) have proved that none of the suspected cases in Nsawam in the Eastern Region, Bawku in the Upper East Region and Tamale in the Northern Region was Ebola.

Citing the case in Kumasi as an example, Dr Sarkodie said a man fell down and started bleeding on the leg, only for people to conclude that it was a case of Ebola.

Another one happened in Nsawam where a man who had just been released from prison fell down and collapsed while going to church.

As he bled from the nostrils, people suspected that he had contracted the Ebola virus.

To address some of those lapses in the system, Dr Sarkodie said the Ministry of Health was stepping up public education to create the necessary awareness.