Coalition calls for more Ebola resources
Human Resources for Health (HRH) Coalition has asked government, through the Ministry of Health, to mobilise resources that will make it easy to handle Ebola virus disease if it comes to the country.
Speaking in an interview on Friday at the coalition’s consultative meeting with members of district health management teams and medical students’ representatives from the Southern Region in Blantyre, HRH chairperson Jonathan Abraham Gama said it is important to mobilise resources now before any Ebola case has been detected.
“Readily available resources will make it easy to fight any case of Ebola head-on. Malawians should also be anticipating as anything can happen, considering that several Ebola cases have been reported in countries where some Malawians visit,” said Gama.
He said government should not wait until an Ebola case is reported in the country for it to start considering putting up enough resources in hospitals, noting that the country has only one laboratory that can detect the disease.
“Government should consider organising sensitisation campaigns to all Malawians and purchasing of personal protection gear for health workers,” said Gama.
Participants at the meeting observed that they have not seen anything on the ground as regards to safety equipment that they would use in treating Ebola patients in times of an outbreak.
The meeting was organised to gather evidence-based information as the coalition is planning to meet Parliament to negotiate for an increase in financial allocation to the health sector for initiating more incentives and increase the number of health workers.
Meanwhile, government has started screening travellers arriving in the country for not only Ebola symptoms but also warning signs of other ailments.
