https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Statements RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

SA: Statement by Department of Health, on Cabinet's decision on Ebola (21/08/2014)

SA: Statement by Department of Health, on Cabinet's decision on Ebola (21/08/2014)

21st August 2014

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Cabinet met on 20 August 2014 and was presented with an update on the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

Cabinet noted with concern the extent of the outbreak and the increase of cases in three of these countries, i.e Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, over the last week. Cabinet recognised that even though the outbreak has been limited to these countries in West Africa, the spread to other countries need to be contained. Cabinet recognized that containing the outbreak at source will be essential and limit the spread and mortality caused by the disease to these particular parts of the world.

Advertisement

Cabinet noted that the Department of Health has taken measures in South Africa to enhance surveillance, distribute guidelines to all hospitals in public and private sectors, designate health facilities for the treatment of patients, deployed personal protective equipment (PPE) to designated facilities, conducted training, activated outbreak response teams and is operating a hotline for clinicians through the NICD.

Countries have been divided into three categories, viz

Advertisement

1.    High risk countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone);

2.    Medium risk countries (Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia). Please note that some of these countries like Kenya and Ethiopia have no Ebola yet, but are mentioned here because most people travelling from West Africa to South Africa travel via these countries;

3.    Low risk countries (all other countries excluding the above)

For the first category countries, that is the high risk countries, there are four types of travelers likely to enter South Africa i.e.

(a)          South Africans based in the affected countries;

(b)          People with permanent residence status who may come from affected countries;

(c)          South Africans who may be traveling to affected countries to conduct   business; and

(d)          Citizens of the affected countries who want to travel to South Africa

For all these travellers, Cabinet decided as follows:

Ø  A total travel ban for all non-citizens travelling from these high risk countries, unless the travel is considered absolutely essential;

Ø  For citizens of South Africa who wish to travel to these countries, they will be requested to delay their travel unless it is also absolutely essential for them to travel;

Ø  For South African citizens returning from these countries, they will have to be subjected to a more stricter screening process that is as follows:

-       Completing a comprehensive health questionnaire before being entry back into the country;

-       If the comprehensive medical questionnaire and the temperature screening reveal something, they will have to subject themselves to a complete medical examination

For medium and low risk countries, the normal surveillance that has been going on will just be enhanced.

There is a special category of individuals who are South Africans but work there in the mines, communications, security and retail. For these groups, we have called a special meeting tomorrow (22 August 2014), which will deal with their unique situation.

Cabinet also accepted SADC’s decision that South Africa be a centre of excellence for training, laboratory diagnosis and clinical expertise.

Cabinet also established an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to deal with the coordination of the response. This IMC will consist of the following Departments:

Ø    Department of Health (Convenor);

Ø    Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry;

Ø    National Treasury;

Ø    Departments of Defence and Military Veterans (South African Military Health Service);

Ø    Department of International Relations and Cooperation;

Ø    Department of Transport;

Ø    Department of Home Affairs;

Ø    Department of State Security;

Ø    Department of Tourism

Ø    Department of Basic Education; and

Ø    Department of Sports and Recreation

Funding

Cabinet further approved funding requested by the Department of Health to the tune of R32.5 million, from the African Renaissance Fund to support containment and prevent further spread of the virus to South Africa and other countries.

Part of the funds will be used to deploy the mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone, fund transport and accommodation for the team and training for health care workers.

Cabinet remains committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all our citizens and requests the public to adhere to limited travel restrictions announced in this briefing.

A travel advisory has also been prepared and copies are available and will be distributed to the media and relevant parties.

Issued by Government Communications (GCIS) on behalf of Department of Health

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

 

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now