Chandapiwa Baputaki
17 December 2008
The Ministry of Health has started offering free health access to foreigners with suspected cholera symptoms.
Foreigners are currently charged about P30 consultation fee when seeking medical attention from government health facilities in Botswana.
Briefing the media on the cholera situation in Botswana yesterday, the Director of Public Health in the ministry, Shenaaz El-Halabi, explained that this does not mean that people should raise false alarm simply to benefit from this dispensation. This was after one Zimbabwean was treated for malaria after he said he had developed cholera symptoms.
El-Halabi pointed out that the ministry is embarking on a comprehensive educational campaign to sensitize the public on the symptoms of cholera so they could seek medical attention early. She was speaking after about three cases of cholera were confirmed in the country.
"One case was confirmed at Serowe/Palapye at Sekgoma Hospital while two were confirmed at Nyangabgwe Hospital in Francistown," she said. In both cases, the patients were Zimbabweans.
She revealed that the ministry together with the Ministry of Local Government, the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC), Department of Water Affairs and other key stakeholders have been proactively coordinating the national cholera preparedness and response activities since November 19 when the first confirmed case of cholera was reported.
The health ministry convened an emergency meeting of the National Cholera Containment Team (NCCT) after that case and several subsequent meetings have been held where a draft action has been developed.
She pointed out that training on Intergrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, which includes acute diarrhoea disease management is continuously given to health care workers. Intergrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) was conducted last year and its guidelines have been widely distributed. The director revealed that six priority districts being Serowe/Palapye, North East, Bobirwa, Chobe, Tutume and Francistown were visited to assess the level of preparedness and provide technical assistance while the District Public Health Offices and the District Disaster Preparedness Committees (DDPC) have identified isolation facilities.
El-Halabi said that the ministry is mobilising stakeholders and community leaders to ensure that cholera community mobilisation activities are cascaded to district levels so that the community, leaders and the high-risk groups are adequately informed on cholera prevention.
"In the past, the country has experienced outbreaks of plague, measles and malaria.
These were successfully contained, therefore the same good mechanism of handling epidemics could be applied for cholera outbreaks as the DDPC at both district and National levels are already in place and diligently working towards containing the situation," she said.
According to the WHO representative in Botswana, Dr Eugene Nyarko, the main cause is to avoid local transmission as the confirmed cases involved foreigners from Zimbabwe. He said that as the rainy season peaks, the situation could be worse in the most affected countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa. He revealed that South Africa had 930 confirmed cases from November 15-30 with five deaths while Zimbabwe had 17, 908 cases with 877 deaths as of December 12.
However, members of the public have been warned to make sure they drink clean water, to boil water sourced from rivers, and eat food while it is still warm. The public is also advised to cover cooked and uncooked food, wash fruits and vegetables before eating them, wash hands with clean water and soap before handling food and to also wash hands after using the toilet or handling children's nappies.
Signs of cholera include diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pains, pains in the legs and arms and continuous thirst.
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Thank u Bots!!! Just like here the Zims are getting free accommodation and get helped into Jobs while that Lunatic just says Zim belongs to him