The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is not well equipped to deal with the Ebola disease should it break out in the country, the National Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Kofi Portuphy has said.
�I have said consistently that if Ebola breaks out and we are not equipped, we will not go near it�, he said.
He made the comments when the Minister of the Interior, Mr Mark Woyongo, led a delegation from the ministry to pay a familiarisation visit to NADMO last Friday.
Mr Portuphy said there was an urgent need for the staff of the organisation to be trained and well equipped to fight the outbreak should it occur, saying �We need to be equipped, and our capacity built to be able to lend support and curtail its spread if it breaks out�.
Review of ACT
Mr Portuphy called for an urgent review of the NADMO law, Act 517 of 1996 to manage disasters and other similar emergencies in the country.
The review, he explained, would make it mandatory for the assemblies to use part of their common fund to address disaster risk and climate change management programmes in their areas.
Additionally, he said it would empower NADMO to be more disaster resilient and also help the organisation to set up a National Disaster Management Fund, as well as a mechanism to pick up early warning signals.
Support to assemblies
Mr Portuphy said as part of efforts to support the assemblies, NADMO had organised some pilot exercises with the help of the UN resident co-ordinator in 10 districts to help to incorporate mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change risk management into the development programmes of the assemblies.
He said the intention was to make sure that district administrations did not encourage the establishment of schools or hospitals or any other social and business infrastructure on watercourses or hazardous areas where such structures could easily be destroyed.
The Interior Minister lauded the efforts of the organisation for constantly being on the alert and lending support to disaster victims.
He said the ministry would do all it could to address the challenges facing the organisation and urged the staff to work hard to support government efforts in serving its citizens.
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