PHL not sending health workers to Ebola-hit countries
(Updated 8:40 p.m.) The Philippines will not send health workers to West Africa as part of global efforts to address the Ebola virus outbreak there, GMA News TV's "News To Go" reported Thursday, quoting Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy of the Department of Health (DOH).
According to Lee Suy, the DOH spokesman, the government will provide help to the troubled region in other ways. He said this could be through funding or additional medical equipment.
The report said President Benigno Aquino III has yet to arrive at a final decision regarding the kind of assistance the country will extend.
The report quoted Lee Suy as saying that they are busy taking precautions to prevent the entry of Ebola, which has so far killed over 4,000, in the country.
Lee Suy said among these precautionary steps is the mandatory 21-day quarantine for the Filipino peacekeepers who will be coming home from Liberia, one of the countries with reported Ebola outbreak, next month.
Be honest
While similar measures could not be implemented with civilians, Lee Suy urged returning Filipinos to be honest in declaring the state of their health.
"Yung appeal namin na [fill out] nila ng maayos simply because it's the only way for us to be able to locate them. Because if we do not locate them, they'll be continuously exposing their family to the potential danger," he said.
Dr. Julie Hall, country representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), believes experiences with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have sufficiently prepared the Philippines against the entry of the Ebola virus.
"Ebola is not very infectious. It's actually quite difficult to catch. You need close contact with infected bodily fluids in order to be able to catch Ebola," said Hall.
Vulnerable
According to WHO, the Philippines is "vulnerable" to the threat of the deadly virus due to its migrant population,
Some 10 million Filipinos are living outside the Philippines, while over 1,700 are currently in West Africa.
WHO said the current Ebola outbreak is the largest since 1976, with the current case and death count larger than those of all past outbreaks combined.
There has yet to be a recorded Ebola case in the Philippines, but Dr. Eric Tayag, assistant secretary of the DOH, said it is "just a matter of time when the Philippines reports its first Ebola case."
"Outbreak countermeasures that exist today are not enough to contain Ebola," he said on Twitter.
As of October 8, a total of 4,033 out of 8,399 registered Ebola cases in seven countries had died.
The hemorrhagic virus has ravaged West African countries Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone since the start of the year, and the UN health agency has warned there could be a steep rise in infections in coming months.
In Liberia, the country worst hit by the crisis, hard-pressed doctors and nurses returned to work after a two-day strike to demand hazard pay for dealing with Ebola patients. —Rie Takumi and Agence France-Presse/KBK, GMA News
According to Lee Suy, the DOH spokesman, the government will provide help to the troubled region in other ways. He said this could be through funding or additional medical equipment.
The report said President Benigno Aquino III has yet to arrive at a final decision regarding the kind of assistance the country will extend.
The report quoted Lee Suy as saying that they are busy taking precautions to prevent the entry of Ebola, which has so far killed over 4,000, in the country.
Lee Suy said among these precautionary steps is the mandatory 21-day quarantine for the Filipino peacekeepers who will be coming home from Liberia, one of the countries with reported Ebola outbreak, next month.
Be honest
While similar measures could not be implemented with civilians, Lee Suy urged returning Filipinos to be honest in declaring the state of their health.
"Yung appeal namin na [fill out] nila ng maayos simply because it's the only way for us to be able to locate them. Because if we do not locate them, they'll be continuously exposing their family to the potential danger," he said.
Dr. Julie Hall, country representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), believes experiences with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have sufficiently prepared the Philippines against the entry of the Ebola virus.
"Ebola is not very infectious. It's actually quite difficult to catch. You need close contact with infected bodily fluids in order to be able to catch Ebola," said Hall.
Vulnerable
According to WHO, the Philippines is "vulnerable" to the threat of the deadly virus due to its migrant population,
Some 10 million Filipinos are living outside the Philippines, while over 1,700 are currently in West Africa.
WHO said the current Ebola outbreak is the largest since 1976, with the current case and death count larger than those of all past outbreaks combined.
There has yet to be a recorded Ebola case in the Philippines, but Dr. Eric Tayag, assistant secretary of the DOH, said it is "just a matter of time when the Philippines reports its first Ebola case."
"Outbreak countermeasures that exist today are not enough to contain Ebola," he said on Twitter.
As of October 8, a total of 4,033 out of 8,399 registered Ebola cases in seven countries had died.
The hemorrhagic virus has ravaged West African countries Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone since the start of the year, and the UN health agency has warned there could be a steep rise in infections in coming months.
In Liberia, the country worst hit by the crisis, hard-pressed doctors and nurses returned to work after a two-day strike to demand hazard pay for dealing with Ebola patients. —Rie Takumi and Agence France-Presse/KBK, GMA News
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