<<Print>>

Residents in Elmina in the Central Region are in a state of fear and panic following the arrival of seventeen (17) persons from Liberia, one of the deadly Ebola virus hard-hit countries in West Africa, Today has gathered. The arrival of the 17 persons from Liberia by sea to Elmina early morning on Sunday, November 2, 2014, Today established, has not only sparked fear among the residents, but that the residents saw it as an indictment on the health officials of Ghana Health Service (GHS) led by Dr. Alhaji Yahaya Ibrahim of Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) health centre, whose team is stationed in a makeshift facility erected behind the Elmina Castle, to help screen people coming from Ghana�s neighbouring countries of the Ebola virus. Today�s findings however revealed that the 17 persons comprised some Ghanaian fishermen and Liberian nationals. The obviously worried Elmina residents could not fathom why the GHS officials did not put the 17 persons in an isolated facility but allowed them to go after only taking their body temperatures and particulars. �The health officials at the Elmina beach health post only checked the body temperatures of the 17 persons; took their particulars and asked them to go home. ��while according to the precautionary directive measures from the World Health Organisation (WHO,) any visitor from an Ebola-hit country should go through body screening and isolated for the 21-day Ebola incubated period, and if no symptom of Ebola during and after this period is detected, such a person should be allowed to enter into any country. �But the case of health officers at the Elmina beach health post is totally different, a resident of Elmina, Kweku Eshun, told Today. That worrying situation, according to Mr. Eshun, attested to the reasons that health officers at the Elmina beach health post were not maintaining strict precautionary measures over possible carriers of the deadly Eloba virus into the community. The residents insisted that since Ghana does not have proper equipment to effectively fight against the possible deadly Eloba virus, it was necessary for health officers who were tasked to conduct body screening at the various check points in the country to adhere to the rules and regulations from WHO in order to save lives. So far the death toll from the Ebola virus has risen to 4,447, with the large majority of victims in West Africa, WHO has announced. WHO Assistant Director-General, Bruce Aylward, also said there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week within two months if efforts were not stepped up. But the rate of new infections in some countries has slowed down, he added. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hard-hit by the outbreak.