Government has designated 36 hospitals – 12 private and 24 public facilities – to manage any Ebola patients if the virus reaches South Africa, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said this week.
Three specialist committees have also been co-ordinating readiness exercises, running simulations and training healthcare workers, according to an EWN report.
“We prepare ourselves with the assumption that the disease may come to any country,” Motsoaledi said, “and selected hospitals that will be used in the case of an outbreak.”
South Africa’s preparations reflect its role as one of the region’s largest aviation hubs, with Johannesburg serving as a major gateway for passengers traveling across the continent.
Moneyweb reports that public health experts said that countries with extensive regional travel links need to maintain high levels of surveillance and preparedness even when outbreaks are confined elsewhere, as rapid identification, isolation and contact tracing are critical to preventing local transmission after an imported case.
Infectious diseases specialist Salim Abdool Karim, who chairs an advisory panel to the Africa CDC, has warned that if the outbreak in the Congo is not brought under control, it will be “a matter of time” before a case is imported into South Africa.
Despite daily flights between South Africa and the DRC, the nation has so far avoided any Ebola cases through containment efforts, he said.
However, the possibility of health workers in the DRC downing tools may completely disrupt any semblance of containment in the region, where the outbreak continues to outpace response, and where more than 600 people have already died out of more than nearly 1 600 confirmed cases.
Exhausted, under the whip
The protest is linked to complaints about unpaid benefits and poor working conditions, according to The Associated Press.
On Sunday night, frontline workers deployed in Ituri province – the epicentre of the outbreak – issued a 24-hour notice threatening to down tools if authorities fail to pay them and improve their working conditions.
They include mostly health professionals who have been working almost non-stop with little rest as they battle attacks from angry residents and widespread scepticism about the virus.
In the notice to the government, workers both in and outside hospitals said they had not been paid benefits since the outbreak began and they do not have adequate supplies for their work.
They also complained of poor salaries, the “arrogance” of teams sent from Congo’s capital of Kinshasa, and the “excessive” use of labour from other provinces without prioritising local labour in Ituri – as well as the lack of adequate equipment.
The strike threats come just days after the start of enrolment for clinical trials. Any strike could also hamper efforts to slow the spread of the outbreak, which is now confirmed in three eastern provinces.
The lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the latest Ebola outbreak, has complicated response efforts. The more common Zaire virus, for which there is a vaccine, was responsible for most of the Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.
Officials are yet to identify the outbreak’s patient zero and still need to trace possibly tens of thousands of people who have come into contact with infected individuals.
SA reiterates support
On a visit to Kinshasa last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa’s support for the DRC, pledging continued backing for local vaccine development and calling for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian workers safe passage to affected communities, reports IOL.
Ramaphosa, as African Union Champion on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, had joined DRC President Félix Tshisekedi at a multi-stakeholder engagement on the outbreak. He said his mandate was to “provide oversight, mobilise resources, strengthen co-operation among member states and support co-ordinated continental action”.
The two Presidents held bilateral talks on the crisis and broader regional health security issues before meeting with ministers, Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya, representatives of the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB), donors, and public health officials.
Ramaphosa paid tribute to the healthcare workers, scientists, humanitarian personnel and community leaders leading the response, and said the continent had repeatedly demonstrated that “the resilience, courage and selflessness of our peoples” enabled it to overcome difficult crises.
He said African solidarity transcends national borders, and “when a sister country needs assistance, we answer that call”.
Moneyweb article – South Africa prepares for possible Ebola outbreak (Open access)
IOL article – Ramaphosa pledges South African support as DRC battles Ebola outbreak (Open access)
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