Ebola: Will South Africa ever be truly ready? 

15 October 2014

I will write to the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, to request as a matter of urgency that he provide good reason for cutting Ebola treatment sites in South Africa from 11 to just 3.

From 11 Ebola Treatment Centres, Minister Motsoaledi has backtracked now declaring only three Treatment Centres in the country. This gravely affects our preparedness to tackle Ebola. 

It is entirely possible for a person infected by Ebola to arrive in South Africa by sea or a combination of air, rail or land travel and therefore a critical mass of medically skilled individuals with the necessary technological assistance must be stationed at every port of entry. 

The DA submits that without a medical doctor monitoring each of these ports of entry, and any temperature scanning equipment placed there, no effective screening is truly in place.

Early Ebola symptoms are similar to those of malaria, typhoid and Lassa haemorrhagic fevers, which all defy distinctive diagnosis. Though screening is reassuring to the public, there is a weak scientific case that it will help keep Ebola out of Ebola-free countries without highly trained medical specialists overseeing the operation.

Furthermore, infected patients must be clinically isolated in ambulances to be transported as quickly as possible to hospitals equipped to receive them. In some cases air-ambulances will be required. 

If the Ebola infection of Spain's Teresa Romero and the USA's Thomas Eric Duncan teach us anything, it is that even in well-equipped Western hospitals human errors of surveillance and diagnostic judgment can be made.

South Africa's health care system is already burdened, by the high rate of HIV/Aids infections and the largely unnoticed 140 South Africans who are dying of all types of Tuberculosis (TB) every day.

A dysfunctional health care system and low public awareness of basic infection control could turn a single Ebola infection into a pandemic in South Africa. 

No country can be over-prepared for the risks posed by Ebola. Every port of entry, whether by land, sea or air must have diagnostic capacity. 

We call on government to ensure that South Africa remains Ebola-free by expanding the Ebola Treatment Centres to 11, properly monitoring incoming persons and ensuring isolation infrastructure is immediately in place.

Statement issued by Dr Wilmot James MP, DA Shadow Minister of Health, October 15 2014

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