Equip Us To Screen Travellers For Ebola

Security personnel at Jaway Wharf, a border community in Half Assini in the Jomoro District in the Western Region, have called for basic training and equipment to help them screen travellers for Ebola at the border at night. According to the personnel from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), they become handicapped at night when Port Health personnel stationed at the border close and sick people are brought from across the border to access the nearest Community Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) facility. A Deputy Superintendent of Immigration, Mr Isaac Nukporfe, made this known when the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, paid a working visit to the area. Dr Bampoe was in the region on a two-day working visit. He was accompanied by members of the Ebola Emergency Operations Team who assessed the preparedness of the Western Region to contain any possible case of the disease. The visit to the Jaway Wharf Border Post was intended for the team to assess efforts being made by the health and border officials at the entry point to contain a possible outbreak, identify gaps and help in addressing those gaps. No screening at night The border post is used by people from Cote d�Ivoire and Ghanaians who live across the River Tano. Mr Nukporfe, who is the Second-in-Command of the Half Assini Command of the GIS, said although some of their leaders had been trained, those who were not trained had challenges of how to deal with sick persons. He said the border officials allowed sick people to enter the country to seek medical treatment without being screened. He called for protective equipment such as gloves, screening apparatus and non-contact thermometers to enable them to take the temperatures of such persons who assessed the gates at night. Explanation from Port Health The Chief Environmental Health Officer in charge of the Jaway Wharf Border, Mr John Ametepi, explained that the security services were normally put into such situation because the Port Health officials were under-staffed in the area. According to him, there are only three health officials who work from 6am to 6pm. Two of them are stationed at Jaway Wharf, while the other one is stationed at New Town Port which is also a border community in the area. He, therefore, appealed to the deputy minister to post more health staff to the area to enhance their capacity to take care of people who assessed the border at night. The deputy minister and his team commended the officers and men at the border for their hard work.