Protective measures taken for 550 Bangladeshis on UN mission in the Ebola-hit country
The authorities claim to have taken protective measures to ensure safety of 550 Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers in Liberia who run the risk of being infected with the deadly Ebola virus.
“Since our troops are working in the middle of people among whom many have already become infected with Ebola, there is a threat,” a top army official who visited the African country as part of a high-powered medical team recently told The Daily Star yesterday.
“But as we’ve taken enough precautionary measures, none of our troops has so far been infected,” said the official who wished to remain anonymous.
The five-member team led by a major general was in Liberia from October 26 to November 1.
Among the three Ebola-hit countries — Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — Bangladeshi peace keepers are mainly deployed in Liberia where 2,812 people died till November 14. The disease has so far claimed 5,177 lives worldwide.
The official said Bangladesh Army had already supplied 86 personal protection equipment (PPE), 100 pieces of sterilised gowns, 1,000 disposable caps, 1000 shoe-covers and sufficient amount of medicines to the troops in the country.
Besides, the United Nations has also supplied the Bangladeshi peacekeepers with similar number of the protective equipment.
The Bangladeshis have also been instructed to suspend all sorts of physical contacts with the civilians and stop giving them leftover foods, he added.
They are also told to measure their body temperature using thermal scanners regularly and washing their hands whenever they return from outside.
Asked, the top army officer said the supplied protection gears are sufficient for all the 550 UN peacekeepers in Liberia.
He also said if needed, both the Bangladesh government and the UN will provide the peacekeepers with more safety equipment.
The Bangladeshi peacekeepers include 60 medics who the army official said would be handy in emergency cases.
The troops are also being discouraged to come to Bangladesh on leave and even if they visit the country, they will properly be screened at the three international airports, the army official said.
Meanwhile, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) advised people coming home from the three countries not to return there until the countries are declared Ebola-free.
The advice has been given as part of the programmes taken to prevent the virus from entering the country, said sources.
Dr Be-nazir Ahmed, a DGHS official, has said some 300 civilians including 100 staff and officials of Brac, an international organisation, had been in the three African countries, but many of them returned after the Ebola outbreak in December last year.
“Now only 25 to 30 people including around 10 Brac officials are staying in those countries,” he said.
“We have requested Brac to pull their staff back home to reduce the risk of the infection,” the DGHS official added.
As of October 30, around 6,000 doctors, clinicians and nurses from upazila, district and national levels were trained up on Ebola screening and treatment.
If anyone is found infected at any corner of the country, members of a rapid response team will rush to the spot and act as per the direction, said Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
Army and police also have some trained members to tackle the disease, he said.
Mahmudur who is also a member of the Technical Committee on Ebola Control, also 16 nurses, paramedics and doctors of Bangladesh Army have already taken the requisite training given jointly by IEDCR and DGHS.
To treat Ebola patients, the authorities have also set up a separate 20-bed isolation ward at Kurmitola General Hospital in the capital and similar arrangements have been made in 16 other hospitals in different districts.
People coming from the three Ebola-hit African countries are also being screened at the three international airports, two sea ports and 22 land ports across the country.
Source: The Daily Star
