The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Deputy Chairman Dr Duane Sands said the Ministry of Health’s Ebola Preparedness and Response Plan is not enough to safeguard Bahamians in the event of an outbreak in the country.

Dr Sands yesterday picked apart the 51-page plan, which he had not seen until it was sent to him by The Tribune, saying it was too technical and lengthy to be effective.

He added that there was not an adequate focus on a public education campaign or sufficient procedures for detection at the country’s ports of entry.

A doctor in the public health care system who wanted to remain anonymous agreed that the plan was not sufficient and that there needed to be better training of health care professionals. She said while some nurses have undergone training, physicians for the most part have not been briefed.

This comes as new cases of Ebola continue to pop up throughout the United States.

“While it (the plan) might be full of interesting information,” Dr Sands said, “I don’t think it’s practical. The average Bahamian cannot read this and understand it. This is a reasonable start for a national policy, but it is not enough.”

“In the section on how to put on the protective clothing, the pictures are not particularly clear,” he added. “But the problem with protective clothing is not putting them on it’s taking them off that is the problem. That’s when people get contaminated.

“It doesn’t address wearing the gear in the climate of the Bahamas and considering the fact that half of the clinics in the country don’t have working air conditioning.

“There is no focus in terms of screening before people travel to the Bahamas and whether there will be restrictive consideration or not.

“With all I have said I am sure this report will wind up in someone’s draw catching dust.”

The Ebola Preparedness and Response Plan details the symptoms of the virus and what should take place if it is contracted. The incubation period of Ebola varies from two to 21 days, with an observed average of eight to 10 days. Person-to-person transmission occurs through direct contact with bodily fluids/secretions of infected persons.

There is no risk of transmission during the incubation period. A person who does not have symptoms will not transmit Ebola and a confirmed case can only occur through lab testing in the United States or Canada, the report says.

The report outlines that an outbreak preparedness and response task force is designated to oversee the response conditions.

“The Health Emergency Operations Committee (EOC) has already convened and established regularly scheduled planning meetings,” the report says. “In the event that a suspected case of Ebola is identified in the Bahamas, this task force will immediately convene for guidance to response efforts.”

The EOC includes representatives from all relevant stakeholders, including but not limited to the Ministry of Health and its agencies, Department of Environmental Health Services, other government agencies as well as private health sector representation, the plan says.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) provides technical guidance and support.

When a case of Ebola is suspected, the plan explains, the Ministry of Health must be notified immediately. This should occur by contacting the Department of Public Health Surveillance Unit. A notification is only completed when a health care professional has spoken to the responsible person in the Surveillance Unit.

There is a brief section in the report addressing port surveillance. It requires medical officers to be on call and to be accessible 24 hours each day. It does not call for ongoing screenings of travellers at ports of entry.

It further speaks to cleaning of areas where symptomatic patients may have been present.

If a patient develops symptoms at home before being isolated, the household should be disinfected and the clothing along with the patients bedding and clothing should be incinerated, the report advises.

As of yesterday, there have been three confirmed cases of Ebola in the US, according to the US Centres for Disease Control.

Two nurses in Texas who cared for Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, who died last week, have tested positive for the virus. Duncan entered the US from Liberia, one of three areas in West Africa ravaged by Ebola.