He told journalists at a press briefing held at GRTS, Kanifing, yesterday: “There is no case of Ebola in this country. There is no suspect reported as at now. We know that people have been calling and worried that a case has been reported at the Jammeh Foundation Hospital. We are here to clear the air and to tell the people that the patient at that hospital is a known tuberculosis patient. He died of TB and we know that when TB is chronic in an individual the person bleeds. Because they saw blood coming from the person’s nose, many panicked. There is no case of Ebola. There is also no suspected case of Ebola in this country. Whenever you talk about Ebola, people panic and we have been trying to address the issue of fear. We have been going out and telling people that the disease is deadly but it is treatable when reported early.
“It is just a rumour that has gone flying and people are talking about it. We have all the evidence and the documents about the patient. It shows that she is a TB patient who had been going to that hospital for treatment. In fact, the patient had never gone out of The Gambia. She lives around Jammeh Foundation Hospital and she was not an Ebola patient. We want the people to remain calm and give out as much information as they can. When we got the information, the response was very quick only to realise that the patient was a TB patient. There was also a time when people were sending messages through texts to tell people that there was Ebola in the country. It may be the same people who may be doing the same thing to tarnish the image of the country. We want to tell them to remain good citizens and not do anything negative against the country. When you look at the health, economic and social impacts of Ebola, one should not play with it. It can wreak havoc on our health system, the economy and the social interactions. We want the general public to continue washing their hands with water. We should all work together to make sure Ebola does not come to The Gambia.”
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