The Dormaa Municipal Health Service in collaboration with the Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital has inaugurated two temporal Ebola Holding Centres at the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border.

The Centre are located at Gonokrom and Kofibadukrom in the Dormaa Central Municipality.

The Centres have been established in those areas and satellite communities as a result of the trade and commercial activities which attract traders from both countries.

The inaugural ceremony for the two Centres was held at the border town in Gonokrom and it was attended by health staff from the municipal and regional level, chiefs and other border officials at Gonokrom.

Madam Florence Iddrisah, the Dormaa Municipal Health Directorate, said since the resurgence of the deadly disease, the Dormaa Municipal Health Directorate in collaboration with the Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital and Municipal Assembly has undertaken some activities to help ensure the protection of the indigenes.

She said these included the formation of a Municipal Ebola epidemic management committee chaired by the Municipal Chief Executive; preparation and acceptance of Municipal Ebola epidemic preparedness plan, continuous sensitization of key health staff and organizing training for all health officers.

Other activities, she said, are the distribution of posters and fliers across the Municipality, distribution of personal protective equipment to all border personnel and the formation of a district contact tracing team.

She said plans were far advanced to put up an isolation ward in the Municipal hospital saying any support in financial or material terms was welcomed.

In a speech made on his behalf, Dr Kofi Issah, the Brong– Ahafo Regional Director of Health Service, said the region, and for that matter the Dormaa Municipality, due to its proximity has a higher risk of contracting the deadly Ebola Viral Disease (EVD).

He said this is because the region an international border with Cote d’ Ivoire and lies within the forest vegetation zone whose animals like bats etc could play host to the virus.

Nana Kwabena Appiah, the Chief of Gonokrom, thanked the health directorate for inaugurating the centres in Gonokrom and promised to provide beds for patients.