10th August, 2019
With the air distance between the two countries just 979 miles, Rwanda has spoken of its readiness to check the outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This was made available by the Ministry of Health in Rwanda in a statement on Saturday.
The statement said that the Rwandan government had in the wake of the outbreak of the disease adopted measures aimed at ensuring that the disease did not migrate to the country.
”Rwanda has a detailed National Preparedness Plan in place and has trained health workers on the early detection and response.
”It has also educated communities about Ebola, vaccinated health workers in high-risk areas, equipped health facilities and continued to conduct simulation exercise to maintain high-level readiness.
”Screening for Ebola symptoms at points of entry has been ongoing from the beginning of the outbreak in DR Congo and has been reinforced since the confirmation of a case in Goma,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, Rwanda remained Ebola-free, saying the government had established Ebola Treatment Centres and also put 23 isolation units in place in hospitals in priority districts as responsorial measures.
The statement said Ebola response simulation exercises have been carried out on regular basis as mechanism as part of efforts to guard against the spread of the disease in communities, borders, airports, and treatment centres.
It added that other measures included emergency operations activation, surveillance, case management, and laboratory testing.
”At least 3,000 health workers in high-risk areas have been vaccinated as a preventive measure, including more than 1,100 in Rubavu district.
”To date, Rwanda has trained more than 23, 957 people including doctors, nurses, hospital staff, community health workers, religious leaders, Red Cross volunteers, and security operatives,” the ministry stated.
The Health Ministry, however, noted that the Rwanda government had provided special ambulances to ensure early response to suspected cases of Ebola.