ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services said on Tuesday it had finalised arrangements to counter Ebola virus across the country.

Meanwhile, Dr Michel Thieren, the World Health Organisation’s representative in Pakistan, said WHO was satisfied with the steps taken by the Pakistan government.

The ministry said a number of meetings had been held to devise a strategy to stop the virus from entering Pakistan. Isolation wards have been set up in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, Services Hospital in Lahore, Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital in Quetta, Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar, District Headquarters Hospital in Gilgit-Baltistan and Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences in Muzaffarabad.

Advisories have been issued to the authorities concerned to take measures to mitigate the threat of Ebola virus disease (EVD).

A ministry official said the heads of tertiary care hospitals in the provinces had been asked to take measures, including designation of isolation rooms on an urgent basis to ensure timely management of EVD cases.

“A training session on EVD case detection and its prevention has been jointly conducted by the National Institute of Health, Central Health Establishment and World Health Organisation for in charges of points of entries (POEs),” he said.

Health staff will be available round the clock at POEs to manage any public health emergency of international concern, including EVD. Ebola screening desks have been set up at major airports in the country.

“Health staff at POEs has been advised to coordinate with provincial health departments for emergency management if any EVD case is detected at POEs. Arrangements are being made to share information about any passenger arriving from an EVD-affected country,” he said.

Health officials at POEs will take history of such a passenger and, if necessary, will keep him under observation/quarantine for 21 days. The passenger with suspected symptoms of EVD will be shifted to the tertiary care hospital.

Talking to Dawn, the WHO representative said no country was immune to the threat of Ebola, adding that WHO recommended screening at airports so that the person with symptoms of EVD could be detected there.

Dr Thieren said WHO had been cooperating with Pakistan to ensure that the virus did not enter this country. If a person is detected with the symptoms of EVD, he should be immediately shifted to an isolation ward and detached from the community.

The Ebola epidemic, which broke out earlier this year, is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa. Every day hundreds of Ebola cases are being reported, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

According to the WHO’s Global Alert and Response Situation Report, 4,493 deaths have been reported till Oct 17. Although Ebola is still concentrated in the three African countries, a few cases have been confirmed in other countries as such persons had a history of travelling to the affected countries.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014