St. Lucia prepares to deal with possible threat of Ebola virus

CASTRIES, St.Lucia, Oct. 2, CMC - Senior Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Belmar-George says the country is improving its readiness and ability to respond, to a possible threat of the Ebola virus .

Belmar says Ministry of Health has taken an approach approved by both regional and international standards.

This includes education and sensitization for health and non-health workers including stakeholders, increased active surveillance at ports of entry and  active surveillance at high-risk institutions such as medical schools,religious institutions  and hotels.

Health care institutions and health care workers have been placed on alert with isolation rooms identified at all major health institutions.

The SMO noted that the ministry has increased the surveillance of visitors with a six-week travel history to areas that may have had cases of Ebola.

"Due to the level of travel and trade that we have, the global travel and trade that we have seen, we have to ensure that we have a state of preparedness in terms of increasing our possibility of detecting a case if one comes and also managing a case on the island,” she said.