The health ministry in South Sudan’s Yei River state and its partners have established an Ebola screening center at the border with neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The center is located in Lasu payam, about 45 kilometers from South Sudan’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The health ministry said earlier the state had 15 porous entry points to the DRC, where the Ebola viral disease has killed hundreds. The entry points, it said, lacked centers for screening.
The state health minister, Kogo Manase Levi told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the new facility would help thousands of returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
“We work as a taskforce of the state and as people are coming back from Congo, we have decided to open an Ebola screening center at the border to serve the returning population. Plans are also underway to establish more centres in Tore, Lujulo and Morobo counties because of the many porous borders,” said Manase.
“So far we have established 11 screening points in the whole state run by IOM [International Organization for Migration]”, he added.
He said the ministry is prepared to respond to any suspected Ebola cases.
“Our preventive measures have been going on through social mobilization, surveillance, trainings and we have an isolation site for Ebola and incase of any threat, we will respond,” said the minister.
He added, “We are grateful we will soon receive an ambulance we can use for our mobile clinic to move from one place to another”.
Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes fever, body aches, and diarrhea, and sometimes bleeding inside and outside the body.