As well as the protocols for evaluating and handling possible Ebola risks, also needed urgently is an update on the internal preparations to backstop the efforts to prevent the virus making landfall. Are the Caura facilities ready? What of the anti-Ebola suits, the training for health workers, the barriers around Caura to prevent the spread of infection, et al?
What the standoff among the Petrotrin executive, the OWTU leadership and port workers over a Gabon-originated ship illustrates is the lack, to date, of protocols to decide whether or not such a vessel poses a risk and to certify that it does not.The management of Petrotrin, the dock workers and the OWTU have varying views on the adequacy or not of measures taken to protect those who would board the vessel from contracting the virus, if indeed such a threat exists.
A release from Petrotrin said the company received a health clearance certificate from the Ministry of Health saying the vessel "was found to be free from infection and contamination and not in contravention of the Quarantine Act."But OWTU president general Ancel Roget claims the clearance was given under an old procedure which did not take Ebola into consideration."Therefore, it is on the sign-off of a port health officer, who is not a medical officer and who...gave clearance without even checking out or examining the crew to determine that none of them exhibit any symptoms of Ebola," claims Mr Roget.
It is possible to appreciate the position of the company, which has received the clearance it requires, and is anxious to have access to the crude oil shipment for its refinery operations.But equally understandable are the fears of those workers who would actually be required to go on board.The lives of many could potentially be at risk.Or the union and the workers could be charged for being alarmist, as Gabon is not one of the countries that has had cases of Ebola.But this is not a matter in which it is possible to make an error and then retrieve the position.In such a situation the guidance of the Ministry of Health and the newly-established Ebola team is required.
The ministry and the team have not had long to put together the protocols and all else needed to guarantee that the vessel and its crew are free of Ebola and present no risk to the people of this country.Neither can the country afford the prospect of 750,000 barrels of crude, much needed for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, and valued at TT$500,000, be sent back or diverted to another refinery.
As well as the protocols for evaluating and handling possible Ebola risks, also needed urgently is an update on the internal preparations to backstop the efforts to prevent the virus making landfall.Are the Caura facilities ready?
What of the anti-Ebola suits, the training for health workers, the barriers around Caura to prevent the spread of infection, et al? What is the country's state of readiness to meet the Ebola threat, if it cannot be determined to the satisfaction of all that it is safe to deal with this single vessel?Lessons can also be learnt from the lack of foresight on the part of the World Health Organisation, the leading international public health organisation, the giant pharmaceutical corporations and governments in doing nothing about a disease that first showed itself 40 years ago.There is no room for further delay in putting measures in place to eliminate the need for risks to be taken.
If the virus were to penetrate this country's outer line of defences, the internal preventive mechanisms are likely to be even weaker.