By Ndey Sowe
The Ministry of Health has disclosed that sites have been secured as makeshift Covid-19 treatment centers in regions across the country.
Mustapha Bittaye, the Acting Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health confirmed this to the press on Tuesday April 14th 2020, during the daily press briefing held at the Health Ministry in Banjul, on the situation of the Coronavirus in the Gambia,.
Dr. Bittaye said daily coordination meetings are ongoing at both the strategic and technical levels of the Ministry as well as the regular monitoring of the conditions of all persons under quarantine; that regular follow-ups of persons discharged from quarantine is also ongoing together with the regular psycho-social support to health workers and people in quarantine.
On the next step of their work, Dr. Bittaye informed that they will continue to collaborate with other stakeholders and communities to massively sensitize people on Covid-19.
“We will make follow-ups and continuously provide psycho-social support to affected communities, persons under quarantine and people who have just been discharged from both quarantine and treatment centers,” he said; that they will initiate community surveillance in all regions with undesignated border villages/posts and will develop and distribute national Covid-19 treatment guidelines. He said they will ensure daily follow-ups continue for low risk contacts and those discharged from quarantine. He called on the public to be reporting and self-reporting high risk individuals through the toll free line (1025) already provided; that they will encourage the inspectors of the State of Emergency Regulations 2020 to document the best practice of compliance while identifying challenges which require urgent attention in the interest of the public’s health. He commented all communities that have established and supported the work of vigilantes in tackling people entering the country from outside and along our borders.
“Community participation and involvement in the Covid-19 intervention is essential,” Bittaye said; that together we can fight against this deadly disease in the Gambia.
If readers can recall, Foroyaa Newspaper has already published that the Minster of Health Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, disclosed that Government wants to decentralize the Coronavirus test to the provinces, so that patients in up-country can also be tested rather than move from the provinces, all the way to the Kombos. Dr. Samateh disclosed this information on Wednesday March 25th during a press briefing.
