By Caribbean Medical News Staff
Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller has said that health authorities are ramping up their plans to ready Jamaica for the Ebola virus. In partnership with the Ministry of Health are the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) providing logistics co-ordination; and public safety, and law and order enforcement support from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF, according to a Jamaica Government press release.
According to the PM, training protocols are being put in place and stakeholder meetings are being held with various organizations and individuals and first responders in the event of an Ebola emergency, the release indicated. The PM also said that the island will be stocked with the relevant protective gear for all first responders and health care workers in all of Jamaica.
“Additional supplies are available for immediate delivery by international partners through arrangements in place. Quarantine facilities and equipped medical isolation wards are also being established. At the same time, we have initiated efforts to acquire necessary screening equipment for the island’s port of entry,” the PM said.
Meanwhile the acting permanent secretary in the ministry of health, Dr Kevin Harvey said that the island’s initial plan is to have two day’s supply of protective gear on hand at hospitals with the greater supply at the isolation centre on the island.
“We are not intending to treat and manage Ebola cases long-term at all our hospital facilities. It will simply be a short-term holding space with planned transfer to the main isolation treatment site,” Harvey said. In addition, Harvey said that the Ministry will be presenting guidelines to funeral directors as it relates to the disposal of dead bodies, should that scenario come to the fore at any time.
The island, which has also seen an upsurge in chikungunya cases, is continuing its public education of chikungunya while educating the public on the Ebola virus as well.
