By: Yusuf M Hasan
Somalilandsun – In 2013 the Hargeisa Group Hospital-HGH performed 1800 surgical operations”
This was informed by the Somaliland health minister Dr Suleiman Isse Ahmed ‘Haglatosie’ during a press briefing in his Hargeisa offices where he also said the 2014 figures stand at 1600 so far.
Giving a breakdown on the outcome of the 2014 operations the minis
“Of the 1800 surgical operations of 2013 only 4 patients died while only three have died this year” Said Dr Haglatosie
The briefing by the minister who was flanked by the HGH director was in reaction to some media reports that a large number of patients at the main Somaliland public hospital have lost their lives at the operation theatre courtesy of foreign medical students.
While the HGH and other government hospitals nationwide and in disregard of meager resources are known to perform superbly what itches is the silence on government plans for tackling Ebola.
On the same day the minister undertook the duties of a hospital director the Ebola virus was being reported near home.
In Addis Ababa four people with Ebola like symptoms are undergoing checks at the Saint Yared General Hospital which is treating a diplomat from West Africa while medics at the Black Lion hospital are examining others with reported case of Fever and Bleeding.
But according Ethiopian Health minister Keseteberhan Admassu preparations to counter the Ebola virus are in place and there is no need to screen or ban flights from West African Countries.
In NAIROBI, Anxiety gripped Kenya after a female passenger from South Sudan died on Saturday night, 12th Oct, from Ebola-like symptoms after arriving in the country.
Health officials at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) said on Sunday that the female passenger on board Kenya Airways flight alighted at 6:45 p.m. with high fever and bleeding from the openings of her body.
In Mogadishu fears of transporting the virus from West Africa are high in the neighbouring country that has a large contingent of military and police officers from the affected region on deployment with AMISOM an African Union force battling Al-Shabaab militants in a bid to prop up the weak Somalia Federal government of President Hasan Sheikh Mahmud
According to BBC Somali news a soldier from Sierra Leone who was supposed to fly to Somalia as part of the African Union forces (Amisom) has been diagnosed with Ebola virus.
All the three government’s have jumped in to deny the reports with the Ethiopian Deputy Director of EPHI, Dr. Dadi Girma terming the reports of infections in the country as rumours while the Kenyans Say they are conducting further investigations to determine causes that led to the death of late business woman.
On the other hand the government of Sierra Leone has said that all the soldiers readied for Somalia deployment have now been quarantined for Ebola screening in reaction to reports of the first incident of Ebola in Sierra Leone to impact the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.
Surprisingly while all these reports of Ebola Virus close to the borders of Somaliland were top news the Health minister saw it fit to respond to rumours of patient maltreatment rather than address the scare among the populace occasioned by the news from Kenya, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and in extension Somalia.
With over 4000 deaths reported so far from the Ebola Virus that is currently a major worry in four continents the Somaliland government is yet to address or issue guidelines for tackling the virus if ever it lands in the country’s shores.
SO IS SOMALILAND PREPARED FOR COMABATING THE EBOLA VIRUS or is the government going to be caught FLATFOOTED as is the NORM thence forced to react events rather than Counter them?
Must Read How to Survive if Ebola Ever Hits Kenya
