Cape Town – Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said South Africans should not panic as no cases of Ebola have been reported in the country.
Motsoaledi, who was speaking at a meeting on Tuesday, told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health that SA, together with the Southern African Development Community, has no cases of Ebola and that the country is ready to deal with the disease.
He said: “The disease was widely spread in the three West African countries; Guinea, with 362 laboratory confirmed cases and 231 deaths; Liberia, with 158 confirmed cases and 132 deaths; and Sierra Leone, with 656 confirmed cases and 259 deaths.”
Motsoaledi added that there were sporadic Ebola cases in Nigeria, with two deaths and 13 people suspected to be infected.
The department of health has identified 11 hospitals that will be able to treat Ebola.
The hospitals are: Polokwane Hospital in Limpopo, Rob
Ferreira Hospital in Mpumalanga, Charlotte Maxeke and Steve Biko Hospitals in
Gauteng, Addington Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, Kleksdorp Hospital in North West,
Pelonomi Hospital in Free State, Kimberly Hospital in Northern Cape, Frere and
Livingstone Hospitals in Eastern Cape, and Tygerberg Hospital in Western Cape.