After the outbreak of the deadly Ebola in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo, the Tanzania government yesterday proclaimed that it has increased surveillance at all its entry points into the country to keep this deadly disease from exploding.
Dr. Elias Kwesi the Assistant Director of Disasters & Emergency within the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said while talking in an exclusive interview with journalists in Dar es Salaam that more than Two hundred health personnel along with no less than 8 staff members working in the airports and from the areas along the borders have been properly trained on how to fight the dreadful Ebola virus.
he explained that The training concerning how to fight Ebola in the event that it erupts here has actually been done here well before the disease broke out in the Western Africa nations and at the present time they will continue training even more personnel in order to have enough man power in the event that the crisis erupts in this country.
Dr. Elias went on to mention that all the airports at this moment have got unique equipments that screens those passengers that are more likely to have already contracted the lethal Ebola virus; the immigration officers and various other authorities at the airports are jointly working to ensure that the entire screening exercise is correctly carried out.
He added that the main border at Namanga has as well acquired this special equipment to carry out the screening exercise and also the other key borders of Tunduma, Holili, Mtukula as well as Sirari will in the near future be provided with this equipment for successful detection as well as response.
The doctor stated that they have as well released a directive to all the referral plus regional hospitals to create emergency isolation centres for any suspected cases, mentioning that there is no restriction on the movement at any of the entry points at the present time since there isn’t any case that has been clinically determined to have the disease in Tanzania to date.
He further explained that the countries in East Africa not too long ago had a assembly in Entebbe – Uganda, including various health experts, where standard restriction plus screening of the passengers in each member state was finally agreed upon as an successful means to control this disease from getting into this region from the adjacent affected nations.
He reassured the locals not to fear as the government of Tanzania is taking all the needed measures to guarantee their safety, recommending, however, every person to take preventative measures.
Ebola has broken out and spread through West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, Liberia as well as Guinea many months back, killing several people.
Latest reports revealed that the DRC that shares borders with some countries of Eastern Africa has affirmed that about 2 people in their country are affected by the disease whereas thirteen others have died.
Health experts plus medicine students participating in this training are from Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, DRC, Mozambique and Kenya.
