Though the risk is remote, the Barbados Health Minister, the Hon. John Boyce says that his Ministry is ready for the Ebola virus in the event that it should reach Barbados’ shores. Similarly, Jamaica’s Health Minister has also told Jamaicans that there is no need to panic.
According to Boyce, he is taking the matter so seriously that he made an announcement in Cabinet regarding the potential threat.
“We are so much on top of things that we made Cabinet aware and we have plans for a press conference”, he said.
Dr. Elizabeth Ferdinand, Barbados Chief Medical Officer, will also issue information via Barbados’ Government Information Service (BGIS) as the Ministry steps up its public education programme to inform Barbadians on the Ebola virus and other attendant issues like control of infection and surveillance, safety precautions and other important preventative protocols.
To date the disease is ravaging West Africa but Boyce has insisted that the island will not be asleep at the wheel if Ebola should reach the island’s shores. The Minister reiterated that through WHO and the CDC, protocols were in place for those traveling via London or the US for pre-screening and in the event that people from West Africa visit the region, they would already have been screened. However, he did still suggest that screening will be done at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA).
“We are all tied to that network (CDC and WHO) that provide support and surveillance of these diseases”, he added. The Minister also stated that in the event that the Barbados’ lone hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital had to purchase equipment, the Governments stands ready to do so.
The Minister also indicated that the QEH does have advanced quarantine and isolation protocols in place.
“Ebola is very manageable once you can set up the infrastructure for life support he said”.
The Minister’s remarks came in the wake of the WHO stating that the virus is “out of control” having hosted a series of emergency meetings and in the wake of the CDC stating that they remain on “very high alert”. Currently two doctors were flown back from West Africa infected with Ebola and are being treated at the Atlanta based Emory University Hospital with experimental drugs.
To date almost 1000 people have died from the disease and reports of people dropping dead in the roads of Liberia have reached the international press.
