MOH: Chest Hospital not a threat to public health as Ebola treatment centre

Residents of  Barbican and neighbouring communities in St. Andrew have been given the assurance that the Ebola treatment centre at the National Chest Hospital will not pose a public health risk. Some residents had raised alarm that the facility was situated too close to homes.

 

Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson, senior officials of  the Ministry and Member of  Parliament for the area, Andre Hylton, met with the residents last night to discuss the concerns. 

 

Speaking with RJR News following the meeting, Mr. Hylton disclosed that safeguards will be in place to prevent the neighbourhood being exposed, including construction of a new wall around the facility and provisions for adequate waste management.

 

 

Despite these measures, the Parliamentary Opposition is not in favour of an Ebola treatment centre being established at the National Chest Hospital. 

 

Dr. Kenneth Baugh, Opposition Spokesman on Health, declared on Tuesday that the location was not ideal, due to its close proximity to public facilities such as schools. He believes St. Joseph's Hospital is a better location.  

 

"It's very easy to isolate that area, with various physical methods and other methods," Dr. Baugh said, during discussions on the issue in the House of Representatives.

 

He added that "the wards (at St. Joseph's) are so structured that people can be isolated in rooms and barrier nursing can be more effectively provided in rooms."

 

 

The term “barrier nursing” is defined in the publication, Medical Corps International Forum, as that method used in the care and treatment of patients suffering from highly contagious, life-threatening diseases. These include many forms of viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF), such as Marburg, Ebola, Lassa, Crimean- Congo fever, and pneumonic plague.

The aim is to erect a barrier to the passage of infectious diseases from the contagious patient to other patients and staff in the hospital, and beyond.  

Preferably, all contagious patients are isolated in separate rooms, but when such patients must be nursed in a ward with others, screens are placed around the bed or beds they occupy.