Government has approved an insurance
policy for frontline workers who would be managing Ebola cases in the event of
an outbreak in Ghana, according to the Chief of Staff. Prosper Bani,
revealed this during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,
Samantha Power, at the Flagstaff House yesterday. The insurance package has
been one of the key requests by health workers during discussions on Ghana's
Ebola preparedness a few months ago. The health workers, led by the Ghana Medical Association maintains
high fatality rates among their colleagues in countries battling the
outbreak, and poor conditions of service for doctors, make the
request for insurance cover legitimate. Details of the insurance cover for
the health workers were not made known. The Chief of Staff mentioned the
insurance policy and capacity building activities for front line workers
as key steps being taken by Ghana government in readiness of a possible
outbreak of the deadly virus that has claimed more than 4,000 lives in Liberia,
Guinea, Siera Leone and other West African countries. Samantha Power, who is
leading a U.S. team to assess progress made in combating the Ebola epidemic in
West Africa said countries must guard against complacency when dealing with the
scourge. She said extra vigilance is key to fighting the disease, considering
what the US has had to go through when the first Ebola case was confirmed
in the country a few weeks ago. She said U.S President, Barak Obama, considers
Ghana's accommodation of the UN Ebola Center and President John Mahama's visit
to the Ebola hit countries as a major step in checking stigmatization. The
Chief of staff also called on bilateral and multilateral agencies to come on
board in checking socio-economic challenges posed by the deadly virus in the
sub-region.
Source:Myjoyonline.com
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