By Yusupha Jobe
The Minister of health and Social Welfare, Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh Tuesday visited the Gambia-Senegal border posts at Amdalai to assess the level of preparedness on the fight against outbreak of corona virus following the confirmed cases in Senegal.
The Minister included a delegation of senior management at his Ministry after a conducted tour of the boarders had a discussion with the security and health officials of both countries.
He advised them to strengthen the across border collaboration in the area in regard to disease surveillance. He called for team work among the two countries’ borders and urged them organize capacity strengthening sessions for community members which will serve as a preventive measure against the new corona virus.
“The outbreak of the new corona virus is global concern that automatically needs global collaboration in the fight against the virus. What the Ministry is currently doing is to enhance all entry border posts of the country with screening machines to help detect individual who might be infected with the virus,” he said.
He added that the Ministry in collaboration with partners is planning to make construction of offices equipped with necessary materials for health officials to facilitate the coordination of health efforts.
The Minister and his delegation further visited other borders health posts of the country that were built during the outbreak of the Ebola disease in West Africa.
Despite government arrangement on the prevention and fight against the Coronavirus with stationing of various health personnel at the country’s international airport and other entry points, many Gambians are still demanding for temporal closure of the country’s border and cancellation of flights to nations affected with the virus.