Friday, 11 July 2014
Former Health Minister, Sherry Ayitey says the Ebola scare has not reached the level where borders should be closed to neighbouring countries.
“You cannot stop people from moving, you can’t! Because it hasn’t reached the situation where we have to close our borders,” She said.
More than 500 people have died from the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau since the outbreak of the deadly virus in February.
Ghana has not recorded any case. The disease is known to kill 90 percent of persons who get infected within days.
West African leaders on Thursday agree to set up a fund to deal with the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease in the sub-region at the end of the 45th ECOWAS Summit of Heads of State and Government in Accra.
The leaders, in principle, also agreed to abolish resident permits, which would see the introduction of new biometric identity cards for all ECOWAS citizens for easy identification across borders.
This according to critics would not only increase the socio-economic pressure on countries which are attractive destinations in the sub-region, but will also contribute to the spread of the Ebola virus.
But Madam Sherry Ayitey noted in an interview with Citi News, “there is a fear but then we have to be in the position that we can manage the border control. We just have to follow the WHO health program and people will be safe.” http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=316594
