Telling Malawians to relax on Ebola is lie

Ebola is a disease that has killed many people in West African countries. It is still killing and is becoming a threat to the whole African continent. But calls that Malawians should not panic over it lack substance considering that Malawi is struggling economically.

Health Minister Dr. Jean Kalirani recently made pronouncements in one of the August House sittings that Malawians should not stress on the issue of Ebola. I wonder whether she knows the disease has killed many people in Africa since 1976.

Malawians should be the most worried people because it is a highly vulnerable country as far as treatment of diseases is concerned.

Who does not know that we have a problem of drug shortage? And who does not know our hospitals are heavily underfunded? Who does not know Malawi has not yet explored measures to successfully prevent the possible outbreak?

Countries such as Nigeria and Uganda are better placed in the economic index. These countries have what Malawi does not have and yet people are dying of the disease because doctors are failing to treat it. It is impossible for Malawi, which is excelling in economic shambles to fight it when some countries with a strong economy are failing to contain it.

We need a better explanation, people should be convinced why they should not panic and yet, the disease is spreading from country to country.

I believe our minister is telling Malawians not to panic simply because she might not be aware of how the disease has been spreading in Africa. Here is a bit of information on the historical background of the disease.

We have to consider the fact that the disease was there over three decades ago only in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, but it has resurfaced, this time affecting many African nations just within a short period.

The most dangerous part is that the disease, just like HIV and Aids, is incurable although it can be prevented if some strict measures are taken on board by government. It is not an issue that should call for laxity, but something to make those responsible for people’s health put an extra effort in trying to explore tangible measures to help to prevent it.

We have noted in some cases that people in our hospitals die from preventable diseases, so it would be difficult to contain the outbreak.

From the historical information presented in the preamble of this article, we note that chances of survival are minimal. Very few people survive from the attack and many more die. We do not want to lose people who would be instrumental to the development of this nation.

So it would not be fair to the country if we keep on telling Malawians to relax when multitudes of people are dying while on the hand people are migrating from country to country.

Yes! Government is screening people, but what if the screening equipment develops a fault in the process and fails to detect the virus? Would that not be chaotic to the country? Shall we keep on telling people to relax?

Everybody should understand its dangers and people should be willing to give in their contributions in trying to prevent it from attacking our people. We can fight this war in solidarity.