BUNGOMA COUNTY LAUNCHES EBOLA SCREENING CENTER AT LWAKHAKHA BORDER POINT. Bungoma county government has launched an Ebola disease test screening at Lwakhakha border point amid fears that travelers from Uganda, South Sudan and DR Congo who may have had contact with suspected victims from West African countries could enter the country undetected. County Executive Committee member for Health, Water and Sanitation Grace Khayota presided over the official launch of the test center urging the national government to forge a regional approach with neighbouring countries to institute tough preventive and vigilance measures to check the spread of the highly contagious disease which kills 90 per cent of its victims. This is not a disease we can joke about and we in Bungoma county government are asking the national government to talk to authorities in Uganda, South Sudan, and Congo to mount a regional vigilance effort to ensure the Ebola virus does not spread into East Africa, Khayota said during an address to health stakeholders at Lwakhakha . County Medical Director of Health Services, Dr Kubasu Ekesa and Bungoma West Medical Officer of Health, Dr Andrew Wamalwa were also at the launch of the Ebola screening centre at the border point which has been in operation for the last two weeks. The unveiling of the Lwakhakha Ebola screening center brings to three such sites in Western Kenya after Busia county government opened up two at Busia and Malaba border crossing points in the Northern Corridor. However, Khayota observed that Kenyas borders with her neighbours were porous and some travellers could sneak in undetected hence the need for port health officials, immigration and security personnel to be on high alert. No Ebola cases have been recorded in the country to date. According to the World Health Organization, some 3,069 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea have been infected with the deadly Ebola virus and 1,552 have died in the latest outbreak. Dr Ekesa said Ebola was highly contagious, has no known cure and has now been declared a world epidemic hence the need for preventive measures to curb its spread by travellers from the West African region who have had contact with its victims. He advised that people suspected to have died from Ebola ought to be buried immediately and such cases reported to health authorities without delay. The county health team delivered protective gear and additional testing equipment to staff deployed at Lwakhakha which is located some 51km from Eastern Ugandas regional capital-Mbale. Health, Water and Sanitation Chief Officer, Situma Mukhwana announced that the county government was equipping Bungoma and Webuye hospitals to become top referral hospitals while each of the nine sub counties will have a hospital replete with an operations theater, mortuary, and x-rays to provide top notch medical services to residents. Each of the 45 wards will have at least a functional health center and dispensary as we move towards preventive medicare, he said.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 07:33:43 +0000
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