President John Mahama has tasked key government and health agencies to step up efforts to prevent the outbreak of the Ebola disease in the country.
The President said this when he met with the head of the agencies at the Flagstaff House.
President Mahama on Thursday,directed the Ministry of Finance to release GHC 6 million to fight the disease.
The Ebola virus is transmitted among humans through bodily fluids.
The disease has, so far, killed about 1,000 people with over 1,000 cases recorded.
The outbreak began in Guinea and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria.
In Ghana, a total of 37 suspected cases have since been evaluated and proved negative.
Ghana in a bid to prevent the spread of disease set up an inter-ministerial committee comprising of the Health, Interior, Communication, Defence and Local Government ministries to devise measures to fight the deadly disease.
At a meeting last Monday, the committee resolved to set up three isolation centres in the event that a case is confirmed in the country.
But President Mahama advised that Ghana sets up “sub treatment centre as quickly as possible” in all the other regional hospitals apart from the three major treatment centres .
He also advised that Ghana secures digital thermomters and deploy them across the country’s borders to ensure that all persons coming from any of the affected countries are screened.
Meanwhile the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council has directed its members to minimize body contacts such as handshakes, hugs, exchange of communion cups as well as waving of handkerchiefs in church to prevent an outbreak of the disease.
The Council also proposed that microphones and doorhandles are disinfected before, during and after church service.
Ebola has already claimed the lives of dozens of doctors and nurses in the Ebola-hit region, including Sierra Leone’s only virologist and Ebola expert, Sheik Umar Khan.
This has put a further strain on the health services of these West African states, which have long faced a shortage of doctors and hospitals.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana