KARACHI: Soon after receiving the guidelines from the ministry of health, hospitals across Karachi are taking measures, including setting up isolation wards, to fight Ebola virus disease (EVD), it emerged on Wednesday.

The ministry of health has recently asked major hospitals across Karachi to send in the names of their staff for training on how to protect themselves and handle patients of the Ebola virus disease.

Speaking about the preparations, head of the emergency department of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Dr Seemin Jamali said that a four-bed isolation unit was set up for Ebola patients.

However, she said that the hospital was “yet to receive the protective gear for the hospital staff since I got to know it through newspaper reports and not through the Sindh government notification that ours is one of the designated hospitals, apart from the Services Hospital, where EVD patients will be kept.”

She said that around 20 doctors and nurses would soon leave for training to treat and care Ebola patients, added Dr Jamali.

The move comes after major hospitals across the city received guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) through the provincial health department over containing Ebola, if and when it occurs. Though vigilantly busy with preparations, the doctors however warn against creating panic.

Dr Bushra Jamil, the head of the section for adult infectious diseases at the Aga Khan University Hospital, said: “The basic principles of treating an Ebola patient are the same as treating a patient with dengue virus but with a bit more preparation, I must add. Making sure the patient is hydrated enough, maintaining the blood pressure and the electrolyte balance [electrolytes aid in normal functioning of body fluids and muscles], is the basic requirement needed for an Ebola patient as well. Nausea, muscular pain, haemorrhagic fever can be controlled if one focuses on this basic principal of treatment. The odds are usually against the doctor and nurses involved in the treatment and care of an EVD patient, preparations for which are already underway.”

Among the arrangements is the need to get a diagnostic facility, which is not available in the country as per reports. But Dr Bushra said the “diagnostic facility will be available at the AKUH in the near future”.

At the same time, the hospital has reserved an “experienced staff of over 50 doctors and nurses for training and eventual care of EVD patients”.

Medical Superintendent at the Services Hospital Dr Mohammad Taufeeq said: “There’s no overt need to get large number of equipment to fight the disease. Rather we need to get better training for the staff including protective gear for them. We have already received caps, gowns, masks and special clothing required for the care of an EVD patient from the health ministry. However, I must add, we are not expecting a huge flow of patients.”

The Services Hospital has kept aside an eight-bed isolation ward for the treatment of EVD patients, he added.

At the same time, he rejected that the treatment of EVD, in principle, is similar to the treatment of a dengue patient, because according to him, “There’s a 99 per cent chance of recovery after contracting dengue whereas there’s an equal chance of death if one gets Ebola”.

Dr Jamali added that Ebola is not an airborne disease rather through human-to-human transmission.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014