Francistown on Ebola high alert
Patricia Edwin | Wednesday August 13, 2014 15:11
He said that the plan include different measures that city intends to take against Ebola in this area. He said that they have also activated what they call a District Rapid Response Team.
“We have people and the team includes all stakeholders across the board such as health workers, government departments and non-governmental departments,” said Ayele.
He further said that the Ministry of Health is working on appointing an officer at the airport. “Francistown has an international airport so the ministry is in the process of appointing an officer who will work from the airport screening all entries into the country and that officer will be accountable to DHMT,” he said. Ayele went on to state that they are also on communication with a department of the MOH called Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Unit and they are collecting information and also protective clothing.
“We have received protective clothing and we are still waiting for some more because it is not enough and we are also waiting for people from the ministry to come and train and demonstrate on how to use the protective clothing,” he said.
He said that there are also other people who are supposed to come and look at Botswana and Zimbabwe border.
At the moment DHMT is at Matsiloje border and they are working closely with the Department of Immigration.
He said that the one thing that they have not done is choose a facility that can be set aside as isolation unit in case of suspected cases but they are working on it.
“We have two health posts which is Area L and Area S and we have been discussing as DHMT that we will take one of those facilities and ready it for that. After choosing we will then establish everything in that facility,” he said. Ayele said that DHMT and Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital are still to hold a joint meeting and select a joint committee because specialist doctors to deal with this issue are also needed.
Last week the minister in the MOH Reverend Dr. John Seakgosing said that there are no cases in Botswana but the country remains on high alert as far as Ebola is concerned.
He said that in Gaborone some facilities have also been set aside such as Block 8 clinic, some departments in Princess Marina Referral Hospital and also at Scottish Livingstone Memorial Hospital.
Last week the minister attended an emergency meeting organised by SADC in Johannesburg and he was glad to report that there are no cases yet in any of the SADC countries but measures are being taken to deal with any suspected cases that might come up.
Seakgosing said that a case that was suspected in Botswana came out negative, which means that there is no case of Ebola yet though the country remains on high alert.
Meanwhile, BONIFACE KEAKABETSE reports from Maun that the Ngamiland is on alert of the possibility of the disease spreading into Botswana during the current tourism peak season. Head of the District Health Management Team Dr Christopher Chembe revealed they have put a screening facility at Maun International Airport to screen passengers from local and international flights. He added that they are also sensitising the public on the disease, and putting measures in place to prevent it from fnding its way into the country.