Health chiefs hit Treasury with Sh533m Ebola budget
A lab manager at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi, Dr Fred Eyase, and researcher Victor Ofula demonstrate how a sample of suspected Ebola specimen is tested at the laboratory on August 12, 2014. PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI | NATION
What you need to know:
The amount is 50 times more than the Sh10 million the department used during the last outbreak of Ebola in Uganda two years ago.
The money will go towards the purchase of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical supplies, training and orientation for medical personnel and laboratory technicians, among others.
To contain the situation locally, the ministry issued a circular on Friday putting medics at the ports, county health directors, sub-county medical officers and superintendents on heightened alert.
The high cost of keeping the deadly Ebola virus out of Kenya’s borders became clear Tuesday after the Ministry of Health submitted a multi-million shilling budget to the Treasury meant to prepare for the disease.
Ian Njeru, who heads the ministry’s disease surveillance and response unit, said the department has requested for Sh533 million to be used in setting up adequate response structures.
The amount is 50 times more than the Sh10 million the department used during the last outbreak of Ebola in Uganda two years ago.
“We have prepared a contingency plan on Ebola surveillance and response, which includes a budget and submitted the same to the National Treasury for approval,” said Dr Njeru.
The money will go towards the purchase of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical supplies, training and orientation for medical personnel and laboratory technicians, among others.
The unit intends to train medical staff in 26 hospitals in high risk areas, including Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Mama Lucy Hospital, Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Nyanza Referral Hospital, Nakuru District Hospital and the Mombasa Provincial General Hospital.
Clinicians, nurses and lab technicians will undergo refresher courses on Ebola and other infectious diseases in the next six months.
“The last time we trained personnel on response was in 2012. I can tell you that if a suspected case was to show up in hospitals now, most personnel would run away,” said Dr Njeru, adding that a wide knowledge gap on the haemorrhagic fever had developed because of redeployment to the counties of trained staff.
The government has this year trained 50 clinicians since the outbreak was reported in West Africa. The figure includes those manning points of entry.
Dr Njeru expressed optimism that in the next three months more staff would be equipped to handle suspected Ebola cases effectively.
So far, a paltry Sh288,000 has been budgeted for training and orientation of select clinicians under the contingency plan submitted to the Treasury. Lab technicians will spend Sh60,000 on training.
The Kenya Medical Research Institute and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) are providing the two testing stations for suspected Ebola specimens. The labs are all in Nairobi.
Samples of blood are required to be triple packed and transported in cool boxes to the testing centres accompanied by case-based surveillance forms.
Dr Njeru, however, insisted that the money would not be limited to preparing for an Ebola outbreak, but would also be used to create awareness and response systems for other contagious viral and zoonotic diseases, including Rift Valley Fever.
He said the department has always taken advantage of scourges like Ebola to sharpen its response preparedness as well as prepare publicity materials and brochures.
“We normally take advantage of such situations to print what we call integrated disease surveillance materials,” Dr Njeru said.
So far, no evidence of Ebola virus has been found in Kenya.
The deadly virus, known to reside in bats and to infect wild animals such as chimpanzees, has claimed over 1,000 lives in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria.
The Nigerian case, which emanated from a sick traveller from Sierra Leone, escaped the scrutiny of screening officials at the airport.
Nigeria has consequently suspended all flights from West African countries hit by Ebola. Several other airlines have also followed suit.
National carrier Kenya Airways still operates direct flights to Abuja, but has stepped up screening measures for all passengers from West Africa.
To contain the situation locally, the ministry issued a circular on Friday putting medics at the ports, county health directors, sub-county medical officers and superintendents on heightened alert.
The teams were instructed to be on the lookout for patients portraying symptoms of Ebola. They are also to compile information on travellers from the affected West Africa zones.
The current Ebola threat is the most severe in decades, which the Word Heath Organisation and the CDC have declared a public health emergency. Drugs maker GlaxoSmithKline has, however, raised hopes on its Ebola vaccine clinical trials.
Last week, Nigeria requested to have trials done on identified human cases, a request that the US declined.
Instead, Nigeria was advised to focus on preventative measures. Although Uganda has suffered from Ebola outbreaks in the past, it has developed a comprehensive response structure that has helped contain the spread of the virus.
