NOTE: Article first appeared on The Citizen website on October 9, 2014.
Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi said he is tired of the unnecessary “media frenzy” around the possible outbreak of Ebola in the country.
Motsoaledi was speaking in Kempton Park, after a meeting with various stakeholders, who will be sending aid to West African countries affected by the deadly virus.
So far all 14 people who have been tested for the virus have been negative. “We were testing them to settle nerves,” said Motsoaledi. He added that too much panic was being created in the media every time someone with a fever or bleeding was admitted to hospital.
Professor Janusz Paweska, who has been part of a team deployed to assist medically in West Africa, explained why South Africa is not a high risk area at the moment.
“There is no habit of eating pets (birds, bats etc) in South Africa.”
He said the extreme hunger in some of the affected countries forced people to hunt bats and other wildlife just to survive.
“People are hungry out there”.
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