GHS Director-General tours health facilities to assess Ebola preparedness

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, has embarked on a tour of key health facilities in Accra to assess Ghana’s preparedness in the event of an Ebola outbreak.

The tour follows a rise in cases in parts of Central and Eastern Africa.

The inspection exercise, which began on Monday, May 25, forms part of efforts by health authorities to strengthen surveillance, improve response systems, and ensure the country is adequately equipped to handle any possible importation of the virus.

Dr. Kaba Akoriyea visited critical facilities, including the Ghana Infectious Disease Centre, Nyaho Medical Centre, the Kotoka International Airport, and the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, which play key roles in disease detection, case management, and emergency response.

The inspection covered key areas such as laboratory capacity, case management systems, surveillance mechanisms, and risk communication strategies, as well as preparedness at points of entry like the airport.

Health authorities say the exercise is aimed at ensuring that all response systems remain fully operational and that Ghana can quickly detect and contain any suspected case of Ebola should it be reported in the country.

Speaking during the tour, the GHS Director-General said Ghana has strengthened its preparedness systems and is confident in its ability to respond swiftly to any potential outbreak.

“So when it comes to preparedness, we are ready, we are prepared. In all the phases of preparedness — sample transportation, case detection, treatment of cases, and risk communication — we are very ready because we have personnel with experience managing Ebola and COVID-19,” he said.

He explained that the country’s preparedness efforts are not new, noting that systems put in place during previous outbreaks, including COVID-19 and other viral disease alerts, have helped build strong institutional capacity.

“We actually started this preparation way before, even during earlier outbreak alerts. We trained personnel for diagnosis, treatment and response. So this is a continuation of preparedness towards Ebola,” he added.

المصدر: MyJoyOnline (GH)