• They wondered how a person with Ebola-like symptoms could manage to move all the way from the border to Kericho, saying there is breakdown in surveillance.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
Senators yesterday called on the Treasury to release Sh5 billion counties’ health cash pending from last last financial year to go towards combating Ebola and other outbreaks.
“Right now, the counties are incapacitated and they cannot do anything to prevent the disease,” Wajir Senator Ibrahim Ali, who is also the vice chairperson of the committee said.
He added, “The government must make sure that the funds are released because in case another scare comes up and counties have nothing, this country will be in big problem and a very serious one at that.”
The legislators also raised concerns over the level of the government preparedness to counter Ebola in case of an outbreak.
The Senate Health Committee members addressed journalists at the Parliament buildings.
The lawmakers noted that Monday’s incident in which a patient suspected to have contracted Ebola found his way to Kericho shows the government isn’t prepared to handle the disease.
“How can a patient move from the boarder in Malaba where the screening was done and manage to reach Kericho? That shows that we are not prepared as a country to deal with this disease,” committee chairman and Trans Nzoia Senator Michael Mbito said.
“Though the tests on the patients were negative, it was a big letdown on the part of the government. Screening should be thorough and proper at the border,” he said
The committee called on the Ministry of Health to assure Kenyans of their safety, and ensure all borders and entry points including airports are carefully monitored.
This comes after laboratory results from the samples of a 36-year old patient who was taken into isolation on Sunday turned to be negative.
Her husband and two other contacts had also been isolated.
The Ministry of Health, in a statement released Monday evening, added that tests conducted on the woman revealed that she was also negative for any Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers.
“The result of the tests carried out by the Kenya Medical Research Institute laboratories on the blood samples from the 36-year-old lady who is currently admitted in the isolation unit at the Kericho County Referral Hospital have been confirmed to be NEGATIVE for Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) and other Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers,” read the statement by Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki.
The news was a relief as the country had been thrown into panic over a possible outbreak.
Health officials in neighbouring counties such as Kisumu had begun setting up isolation wards.
The woman was traveling to Nairobi from Malaba at the border between Kenya and the neighbouring Uganda, where a number of Ebola related deaths have been reported.
The CS said the ministry has deployed 229 staff at various points of entry, including 21 Ebola champions.