March 12, 2021
By Aruna Kamara (Bo)
Health Workers in Bo District have joined the paramount chiefs in order to intensify their surveillance for the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease following the resurfacing of Ebola in neighboring Guinea.
Addressing the In-charges of the Peripheral Health Units (PHU’s) in Bo district during a refresher training held at the Bo District COVID 19 Response Centre, the Bo District Disease Surveillance Officer, Kenneth Ansumana, stressed the importance of surveillance at the health centers.
“Patients with blood need to be isolated and thoroughly examined and suspected case of Ebola needs to be reported for immediate action,’’ he cautioned
Mr. Kenneth said that patients that visit the heath Centre need to go to through the triage in order to be thoroughly screened before they are being referred for treatment, as this will help identify suspected cases of Ebola.
He said that they need to befriend traditional healers and talk to them not to handle serious cases suspected to be Ebola and other dreadful diseases including COVID 19, adding that they should encourage patients to go to the health facilities.
Some of the participants of the training told this medium that the training is timely particularly when they are battling out with COVID and must be sensitive to Ebola incidents.
The Southern Regional Public Relations Officer of NACOVERC, Newman Anthony Levay said that five days ago, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with the NACOVERC district structures organized training also for health workers manning the health centers and similar workshop was organized for paramount Chiefs, trained for preparation for another outbreak in Bo and the country as a whole.
Mr. Levay encouraged the participants including the paramount chiefs to join NACOVERC and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to intensified surveillance in their respective communities to ensure that Ebola does not come into Sierra Leone and for the fight against COVID to be won.