Preventive measures, such as training in protection procedures, protection related clothes and equipment given to Bangladeshis working for the UN Peace-keeping missions have kept them at bay from Ebola, said Major General Rabiul Hossain at a press briefing yesterday.
Rabiul, a consultant physician general for the army, made the statement while presenting a key note address for the Inter Service Public Relations Directorate at the IFMI auditorium, Dhaka.
The briefing announced that Bangladeshi soldiers posted across Africa have been trained in procedures that should protect them against the virus; they have been given protection related clothes and equipments as well. The personnel are performing their roles well, and are not afraid of Ebola. They travel back and forth between Bangladesh and their stations as scheduled without any difficulties, but are checked and cross checked at every point of entry, be it Liberia, or Dhaka.
Rabiul was part of a five-member delegation of medical specialists that recently returned from Liberia after inspecting the health situation of the Bangladeshi personnel posted to UN missions.
During the visit the team spoke to high officials of the UN on the Ebola issue, were assured that the UN is vigilant about the risks. All medical facilities required to tackle Ebola are set up within a few kilometers from Bangladesh’s UN base.
The delegation visited Liberia only as over 500 Bangladeshi’s are posted in the high risk zone for Ebola. There have been almost 6900 confirmed cases of the virus in Liberia; almost half of the infected have died.
However, the general said that since no Bangladeshi has been affected so far, the morale of the soldiers posted Africa, in countries like Congo, Ivory Coast, and Mali, is not low. The defense forces are keeping constant tabs on the situation, and there should not be any need to panic.
