Senegal battle ready for Ebola with new treatment centres

After being declared Ebola-free months ago, Senegal is still relentless in controlling any possible outbreak of the Ebola virus in its country.

With a dozen tents and twelve beds surrounded by a double fence, an Ebola emergency treatment centre has been built in the Fann Hospital in Dakar to contain the virus in case it penetrates the country’s porous borders, RFI reports.

The centre, a partnership between the government, Red Cross and the Japanese cooperation, will also be used for outbreaks associated with other infectious diseases.

Since the outbreak of the Ebola virus, Senegal recorded only one case in August 2014 which was contained. The Ebola emergency treatment centre is built just as the ones in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, but has not yet received a patient.

Dr. Alioune Badara Ly, the deputy coordinator of the center of health emergency operations at the Fann Hospital in an interview with RFI said: “We prefer to take action, but of course the hope is that we do not use them.”

He added that with the resurgence of the disease in the region, the center is being “revitalized and revived to handle any possible cases”. The entire staff of the infectious diseases division of the Fann Hospital has been well-trained like Louise Fortes, one of the doctors who treated the only Ebola patient in the country, a young Guinean visiting Senegal on vacation.

“In August 2014, we had the advantage of practicing with a case, and also some staff went for training in Congo and others went to support on cases in Liberia and Guinea. Here we capitalize on all the experience and expertise to support in case of any eventuality,” she said.

Other Ebola emergency treatment centres are being built in other cities and monitoring patients at medical centres for signs of the disease has began.

Guinea, one of the hardest hit countries during the worst outbreak of the disease, is currently having a resurgence of the deadly virus. The World Health Organisation has however downgraded the health risk of the disease.

#Ebola in West Africa is no longer a Public Health Emergency of Intl Concern, though high vigilance & response capacity must be maintained

— WHO (@WHO) March 29, 2016