BANGLADESH seems nonchalant about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus and the fact that cases have already started being reported in the United States of America, considered a world power with the most advanced medical care system, means that ill-equipped third world countries like ours is at very high risk of succumbing to an outbreak. First discovered near the Ebola river valley in Zaire in 1976, the almost forgotten virus is back with a vengeance and it appears that the world is failing to tackle the deadly Ebola outbreak.
United Nations officials expressed their findings that in the rate at which the virus is spreading, the infection rate could soon reach 10,000 a week. US officials reported that after the death of one in Dallas, another health worker in Texas was tested positive for Ebola. The latest death toll is 4,447, from 8,914 recorded infection cases and the hardest-hit countries are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The WHO has called the current Ebola outbreak the most severe in modern times.
Governments in West Africa have been scrambling to contain the epidemic and it is not certain whether they will be successful considering the rate at which the virus is spreading. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, USA predicts that as many as 550,000 to 1.4 million can be infected with Ebola by January. First world nations with efficient public health infrastructure are trying their level best to find a cure to the virus so that it can be beaten and are also taking extensive precautions so that a disastrous outbreak can be contained.
Under the circumstances, Bangladesh health officials are living in denial that an Ebola spread in Bangladesh is ‘too remote’ a possibility. It sounds ridiculous as that is exactly what happened in the United States of America and considering their high-tech equipment and safety protocols in place, our inefficient and rudimentary public health infrastructure is doomed as it will not be able to handle an actual outbreak.
Local dailies reported that 6 Bangladeshi nationals returning from Liberia were not even screened at the airport. The response of the Bangladesh’s CDC was that they ‘called them after two to three days and asked them whether they are okay.’
The sheer indifference of our Health Ministry in taking the Ebola situation seriously sheds a damning light on our irresponsible government who refuse to acknowledge and take reasonable steps to safeguard millions of its people from a deadly virus that has the whole world shaking. Mere promises of the Health Minister of buying ‘thermal scanners’ to check passenger temperatures and find out if they have fevers do not seem convincing at all and we fear that because of a government who are indifferent and incapable of protecting us from an Ebola outbreak, we are indeed looking at a painfully dark future.
