The Ministry of Interior has indicated that it will close all borders of the country to prevent anyone with the Ebola virus from entering Ghana on the advice of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
There is widespread concern about the preparedness of the Health Ministry and the Ghana Health Service to protect citizens against the Ebola disease.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says both institutions are not adequately prepared to tackle the disease.
The GIS has also disclosed that its personnel are not adequately equipped to effectively man the country’s borders and neither do they have the requisite protective gear to protect themselves against the disease.
The Deputy Minister of Interior, James Agalga told Citi News, government has not taken the decision to close all entry points into the country.
He said the government is aware of the Ebola disease but “the Ministry of Health is working in conjunction with the Immigration. They have put measures at our borders.”
According to him, the government is hoping that the spread of the disease in neighbouring West African countries will not deteriorate “to the point where we have to close our borders.”
Mr. Agalga acknowledged that the country’s borders are porous “and people come into the country through unapproved routes so that is the real difficulty we are having.”
He said it is not practical for Ghana to close its borders because “day in day out, people just cross our borders like that. Some have their families across borders. They farm in Ghana, then they go and sleep in Ivory Coast and sometimes you are not even able to tell where the boundary is.”
The Ministry of Health is expected to hold a press conference later on Tuesday to address some pertinent issues on the Ebola virus.
The epidemic began in Guinea in March this year and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
Liberia on Monday closed its borders to prevent the further spread of the disease.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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