Being prepared: Health dept formulates strategy to tackle Ebola

Doctors from LRH, KTH and HMC to be deputed to counters at Peshawar airport.

PESHAWAR:

To prevent any possible Ebola virus outbreak in the province, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa health department has chalked out a plan and issued relevant directives to all district level health authorities.

A meeting chaired by Health Secretary Dr Aftab Durrani was held at the department’s office on Wednesday to discuss plans to deal with the Ebola virus disease which has wreaked havoc in West Africa and spread to other countries of the world.

In Wednesday’s meeting, the health secretary decided that isolation wards for potential Ebola patients would be set up in all three tertiary healthcare centres of Peshawar. Moreover, airport authorities were directed to establish a special counter to keep a check on patients coming into the country.

The health secretary directed chiefs of all three hospitals to form two-member teams of doctors who would be deputed to the counters to screen any possible patients.

The department has also issued directives to district level health authorities to create awareness among doctors and people about the Ebola virus, its symptoms and prevention.

HMC Spokesperson on Infectious Diseases Dr Wali Rehman told The Express Tribune the hospital took the necessary steps following the health department’s directives.

“So far no cases have surfaced in the region and we are fully prepared to deal with any patient exhibiting symptoms,” said Rehman.

Meanwhile, a WHO official told The Express Tribune that protective gear and equipment has been provided to health departments of all provinces and trainings for medical practitioners have also been initiated by the authority. “We have trained doctors from both public and private hospitals and more such trainings will follow,” he added.

According to the WHO official, counters had been established at airports in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to screen passengers coming from Gulf and African countries which have been most affected by the outbreak, namely Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2014.