Nairobi sets aside Sh300m to train health workers on Ebola

Corporate News

Liberian health workers in Monrovia, Liberia. Nairobi County has set aside Sh300 million to be used in training of the health workers on how to handle potential Ebola cases. PHOTO | FILE | AFP 

By GERALD ANDAE

In Summary

• This comes just a day after the government announced it is training more than 30,000 health workers to tackle the deadly Ebola outbreak across the country.

Nairobi County has set aside Sh300 million to be used in training of the health workers on how to handle potential Ebola cases. Speaking at Mbagathi Hospital Friday, acting county executive for health Mercy Kamau said the county government had set up an Ebola task force that comprises medical experts, who will come up with a contingency plan to deal with any reported cases.

This comes just a day after the government announced it is training more than 30,000 health workers to tackle the deadly Ebola outbreak across the country. The ministry of health has also established isolation facilities at JKIA, Kenyatta Hospital and other regional hospitals for management of suspected and any confirmed cases.

Last month the ministry was granted Sh350million by National treasury for Ebola preparedness. This money is part of Sh680million approved by parliament. The balance is expected to be released soon.

To date, no cases of Ebola have been reported in Kenya, with the disease having killed an estimated about 5,000 people in West Africa according to World Health Organization.

Dr Andrew Sulley, the Mbagathi Hospital CEO, said the institution is prepared to deal with any cases of Ebola referred to the facility.

“We have trained our staff on how to handle the Ebola patients and have the requisite equipment including body suits,” said Sulley adding that Nairobi County had provided fifty body suits to the hospital.

Speaking at the same event, Ms Susan Mboya-Kidero, said the epidemic was a socio-economic disaster and that the country should borrow from Nigeria on how they responded to it.

“The social and economic setbacks we have seen in West Africa is not a fate we would want for Kenya. We should borrow from the Nigerians on how they combated Ebola by identifying the index (first) patient and work from there,” she said.

This week, WHO declared Nigeria, which had been hit by the disease, as Ebola free following the successful efforts in curbing it.

The epidemic is still spreading in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and projections show there could be between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases a week in early December, the WHO said on Tuesday.