In June, a US plan to establish an Ebola treatment facility at a military base in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki sparked concern, with Kenyans reacting furiously about the risks of cross-border infection. The plan was halted by the courts.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Aden Duale told local television station NTV that pending the outcome of the court case, the government was considering turning the facility into the “first” infectious disease hospital in the region, to deal with outbreaks like Ebola.
More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola in DR Congo this year, in what is the second most deadly known outbreak of the disease.
Shortly after DR Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in May, it was also reported in Uganda, where two people died.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that county free of the disease in August.
On Tuesday, Uganda’s health ministry emphasised that the country remained free of Ebola and was continuing to “maintain strong surveillance measures to protect public health”.
It said the Kenyan Ebola patient had transited through the country for less than 24 hours and screening teams had “observed he had a normal temperature at the time of departure”.
According to Africa CDC chief, his organisation was working with all the countries in the region to reinforce response mechanisms.
Kasiye said Kenya was “well prepared” and was therefore able to immediately receive the case, “but it is not the case for all other countries”.
“It means the regional approach is more important today to stop this outbreak.”
However, Kasiye said there was no quick testing available at border points and the taking of temperatures was unreliable as medication is able to stop a fever.
“I have to make it clear – we don’t have diagnostics to test for Ebola. It’s just about temperature,” he said.
Dr Miskellah, from the Kenyan doctors’ union, said he was concerned that governments were counting on the “honesty and full co-operation of the travellers to self-declare, to say the truth” about their health.
This was however undermined by a lack of proper health education to destigmatise the virus, meaning people often wanted to hide their symptoms, he said.
