Health Minister, Dr. Kenneth Darroux, has disclosed that a temporary isolation unit will be put into operation at the Douglas-Charles Airport, while plans are being pursued for the establishment of a more permanent unit.
“We do have a holding isolation unit at the Douglas-Charles Airport for temporary location,” Dr. Darroux said. “(I) visited the Douglas-Charles Airport; visited the development of the isolation unit being put in place at the Douglas-Charles Airport,” Dr. Darroux told the media last week.
“This small isolation unit being set up there will just be a temporary location for any potential Ebola, or any other contagious disease victims and whatever the outbreak might be at any given time, to get them away from the main stream airport and get them into an area for further transfer to any other isolation unit we are thinking of,” he said.
He said a few proposals have already been put forward for Cabinet’s consideration with regard to a more permanent facility.
“Couple of the proposals are being considered, one of them of course, would be the conversion of one of the primary schools around town into this unit. That”s one of the proposals,” he explained.
He said Cabinet is awaiting further advice from PAHO regarding the option of building an isolation unit “away from the city, close enough to the hospital for easy access but away from the main stream population.”
The minister also views with optimism, the decline in the number of Ebola casualties in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“We are seeing (in) the figures less and less casualties of Ebola outside the three main African countries where Ebola is a problem, so this is good news,” he stated.
“From a health point of view this is working out to be an advantage to us that there are no direct international flights into Dominica, so most of the visitors to Dominica would have made one or two stops at other international airports, where they would have a more elaborate screening and interviews. So the chances of someone coming into Dominica with Ebola are slim…we will be taking measures in case that happens,”the minister pointed out.
I would think that the chances are slim for any one to arrive into Dominica with the virus, as most of all the Int. Air Ports are equip to monitor The Ebola virus. We are not yet equip, so how are people going to end up in that temporary isolation unit? The Health Min. is not even trained to deal with that virus
Forget Ebola, what about a suitable health care facility for the people of the North. There is no hospital in Portsmouth or Marigot. So why not build or talk about developing a suitable healthcare facility which will serve not only the airport but the people of the North. The chances of Ebola entering Dominica is much smaller than the need of the people of the Northern and North west region needing a good hospital facility. This government was in power for 15 years nd did not see to the health needs of the people.
You hit the nail on the head, I could not agree more! But then again what else can we in reality expect from this government. Elections are over and we have been promised all kind of things but I suspect very little of it will come to fruition. Skerrit is absent now for over 3 weeks, travelling the world (no doubt at taxpayers expense) instead of doing much needed work on the island. Why oh why do we put up on an ongoing basis with this mediocrity?
Dr. Darroux, does that Isolation unit apply to politicians that left Dominica since December 2014 without telling us of their whereabouts? What if they were in direct contact with persons infected with Ebola? Or, what if they visited countries with Ebola? Is there anything in place to test them just to ensure that they don’t bring Ebola to Dominica?
Should have an international airport, instead Dominica renamed Melville hall .This administration will quasea Dominica. 20 years behind other Caribbean states.Freedom of speech I am allowed to state my opinion.5 more years of Skerrit .hope for the best .
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Excellent idea! We should be satisfied with this.
We pray that some day soon Ebola will be entirely eradicated.
The Canadian testing vaccine must be working in especially Sierra Leone.
I spoke to an African woman about Ebola. She informed me that those who contracted Ebola reside in poor areas. It is strange. They lack proper nutrition which caused their immune system to break down and therefore are susceptible to catching this dreadful illness.
Health Minister there is a bad virus in Canada, the US and elsewhere. Many people have contracted it. Those who get it had weakness of the body and no appetite. Some people are fortunate that they only had a few days of it. Others have had it for weeks; some for a few weeks. It was reported hundreds of people especially senior citizens got it. Some also died especially if they had a medical condition. The vaccine for the winter months did not prevent some from catching this virus. I call this one dangerous. Beware!
Instead of sitting on the computer just writing foolishness all day both here and on Facebook, how about reading a book or doing some correspondence course to educate yourself. Alas, try to have someone proofread your comments so they make sense. You are as pitiful as they get. Elections are over you do not need to keep making a fool of yourself in the name of politics. Try to complete a GED or whatever the High School Diploma equivalent is in Canada. The six week nurses aid course cannot cut it. Toneh!
Why should we be satisfied with this??? Are you for real??
Do you have the proper medical instruments to accommodate the isolation unit? Stop blowing smoke up in the air man
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Why conversion of a primary school into an isolation unit? What happen, we have too many primary schools? I wish someone would explain this phenomenon.
My question exactly!!!
But was it not this same government’s Minister of Education who said just before elections that Dominica was ready for Ebola? What has changed? We were ready without any isolation units, no testing kits not even body bags. ….It is therefore encouraging that the current minister of health seems to be sounding a bit more intelligent than the previous one!!!