Ebola response unit for T&T hospital

(Trinidad Express) A National Ebola Response Unit will be included at the Caura Hospital to provide treatment to people who may contract the Ebola virus.

Acting Minister of Health Dr Tim Gopeesingh said yesterday the facility would be upgraded to ensure proper management of the virus, which has killed more than 3,000 people in Africa, and had reached the United States, with one person being treated.

Gopeesingh was speaking at the post-Cabinet news briefing at the 18th Floor of the San Fernando Teaching Hospital.

He said: “It will be a four-bed treatment centre and Caura will be refurbished to provide housing for health care workers who will be required to provide 24-hour care and management of suspected cases of Ebola, so as to have proper management of these cases.”

Gopeesingh said two rooms would be upgraded at the Piarco International Airport to treat any suspected cases.

He said a team comprising health officials and Government ministers will visit Nebraska, USA, to attend a training symposium for infectious diseases.

“The team will observe how infectious diseases like Ebola can be safely undertaken with minimal risk to health care workers, a situation which is taking the attention of the WHO. The team will work with the Nebraska bio-containment unit and will submit recommendations to have a planning policy and programmes and presentation plans. Prevention, early detection and management of Ebola in keeping with international best practices,” he said.

Gopeesingh said the Ministries of Health, National Security and Transport would work together in the fight against the Ebola virus.