Poland's deputy health minister says the country is ready to treat Ebola patients coming in from abroad, as the EU prepares to discuss possible screening for the virus at borders.
Minister Igor Radziewicz-Winnicki has told Polish Radio that “if a patient with Ebola were to get to Poland, all the responses will take place in accordance with procedures guaranteeing safety.”
Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that there are around 220 Poles resident in countries in West Africa where the threat from Ebola is greatest.
There are around 200 Poles working in three missions in Nigeria, five Polish missionaries in Sierra Leone and four with the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, says a ministry statement.
The Health Ministry has been in discussion with ten hospitals which are being suitably prepared to receive an Ebola patient.
“We have gathered those centres which are best equipped, but also have the appropriate staff,” Radziewicz-Winnicki said.
He added that the Polish health system would use internationally accepted procedures and standards to guarantee safe treatment of any hypothetical Ebola patients.
The comments come following PM Kopacz’s meeting with President Hollande last Friday, where she called for European unity in response to the outbreak.
Since the beginning of the Ebola outbreak in December last year the WHO estimates that 8,300 people in West Africa have been infected, of which 4,000 have died.
There have been fears that the virus may spread to Europe following the infection of Spanish Nurse Teresa Romero, who is the first person to catch the disease within Europe.
The European Commission in Brussels has said it will hold a meeting of health ministers on Thursday to discuss screening possible Ebola victims when they enter the 28-nation bloc.
Meanwhile, concern has grown in the US after health officials said on Sunday they were deeply concerned by a “breach in protocol” after it was revealed a healthcare worker who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, who died in Dallas after contracting the virus, had become infected.
The White House said President Barack Obama had been updated about the case. (sl/pg)
Picture: Especially prepared equipment has been added to a ward at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Warsaw in preparation for Ebola case: photo - PAP/Leszek Szymański
Ewa Malcher
