MOUNT Isa hospital will be better prepared to handle a potential Ebola case after a presentation on dealing with the deadly disease was given to staff.
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North Queensland public health physician Steven Donohue held a seminar at the Mount Isa hospital on Tuesday to educate staff on the stages of the Ebola virus disease.
A group of about 30 health practitioners, plus those from Doomadgee and Normanton who joined in via video link, heard how the virus could present itself and what to do if a case was to come to their area.
Dr Donohue said Queensland Health was preparing plans to manage Ebola and there have been three potential cases in Queensland, however none have resulted in a positive test result.
“Queensland, along with other states and territories, has worked closely with the Commonwealth in preparing state and national plans to manage suspected EVD cases, which were recently implemented successfully on the Gold Coast, Cairns and in Brisbane,” he said.
“There have been three potential cases of EVD in this state in the past few weeks, none of which were positive, and Queensland Health has tested and refined its resources and procedures to ensure the disease will be contained in this state.”
Federal member for Kennedy Bob Katter said he was pleased the hospital had taken time to advise staff, but remained worried that Queensland Health didn’t have the situation in hand.
“I am very appreciative of Mount Isa Hospital for informing their staff,” he said
“[Ebola is] deeply disturbing.
“The Health Department says they have it under control, but they don’t.”
