Gambia: Do Something Now Health Minister Tamsir Mbowe

opinion

Over one hundred Gambian supporters including sports journalists returned home on Sunday night after a successful trip to Congo Brazzaville where they cheered up the country's Under-20 team in the recently concluded African Youth Championships. The supporters returned home cheerfully the Gambian football team's stunning performance that led them to win the bronze medal in the second most-important football tournament in the continent. But during their fifteen days sojourn the supporters had stayed some time in the Brazzaville-Congo city of Point Noire.

What worries us is that while they were in that city, there was a cholera outbreak that has so far taken over fifty lives in that city alone. We are worried that the return of so many people, from such a cholera infested area without any medical checkup, or even quarantining, is another evidence of irresponsibility on the side of the health authorities in Banjul. The returnees, both supporters and team members, never how patriotic their vocation might have been, constitute grave threat to the people of the country and responsible health authority anywhere would not have failed to at least screen them to make sure they are free from cholera. Cholera is a highly contagious disease and spreads quickly within communities deprived of amenities like running water.

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