Tanzania enhances screening facilities against Ebola

Tanzanian authorities said on Monday they have acquired facilities worth 750,000 U.S. dollars for screening people against the deadly Ebola disease.

Ummy Mwalimu, the east African nation’s Minister for Health, said the facilities will be used to screen people at the country’s entry points.

The move comes almost two weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).

Two weeks ago, the Tanzanian government dispatched a team of medical experts to six border regions in an effort to improve detection and information systems against the possible outbreak of the disease.

“The government has secured facilities for screening against Ebola, including four brand new and modern screening machines to be distributed at the country’s entry points for screening people entering in the country.” Mwalimu told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

She mentioned other facilities as gloves, special glasses and gowns to be used by experts who will be conducting the screening at the entry points, including airports, ports and border posts to ensure affected people were not allowed in the country.

“The government has also issued special forms to be used in registering Congolese who are entering into the country,” said Mwalimu.

The minister said the government continued to collaborate with the WHO in monitoring and ensuring the disease did not enter into the country.

Reports by WHO said the possibility of the disease to spread into other neighboring countries including Tanzania was very minimal because the UN health agency in collaboration with the health ministry in DR Congo has put in place stern control measures to prevent the disease from spreading.

Among other measures, the Tanzanian government had modified its national laboratories in Mbeya and Dar es Salaam regions to test blood samples.

On May 12, the WHO declared an Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo where among nine people suspected to have contracted the deadly virus, three died, with one case of Ebola confirmed through tests at the national laboratory in the capital Kinshasa, WHO Congo representative Allarangar Yokouide said in a statement. Enditem

Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh

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