• HEALTH Minister Joseph Kasonde (right) with Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming (left) at the launch of the thermal scanner to detect the deadly Ebola virus at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka yesterday. Picture by CHUSA SICHONE

By CHUSA SICHONE –

HEALTH Minister Joseph Kasonde has declared Zambia’s readiness to tackle the deadly Ebola virus which is currently ravaging West African countries.
Dr Kasonde said this during the launch of the US$30,000 worth Thermal Scanner donated by AVIC International at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka yesterday.
The minister said Zambia had no reason not to succeed in the fight against Ebola as the country had put the necessary preventive measures in place.
“I think that we can claim that we have what it takes to prevent Ebola becoming a serious issue in Zambia. We have the people, we know that our community is now ready to deal with the situation as it arises,” Dr Kasonde said.
“(It’s) only yesterday when I arrived from Kaputa where they are fully prepared as a community to look after such a situation should it arise. We also have a health system and you have heard over and over again that, above all, it is the health system which must be strong enough to control or prevent such a condition.”
Dr Kasonde said Zambia was benefiting from China in strengthening the health system against the deadly virus, among other conditions.
He also said that the Ebola outbreak had taught Zambia about the importance of disease surveillance, adding that there was need to constantly check what was going on in the country and not waiting until something serious happened.
“I hope that we are going to strengthen our own surveillance system so that we will be perpetually in a state of preparedness not only on one occasion,” he said.
Dr Kasonde thanked AVIC International, which he described as a longstanding friend, for the gesture and was hopeful that the collaboration that Zambia and China had been enjoying for 50 years could be strengthened further.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said the donation was worth celebrating as the Thermal Scanner would come in handy in the fight against Ebola and that AVIC International’s gesture was a demonstration of the friendship from the Chinese community in Zambia.
AVIC International civilian representative Xu Fei said the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport donation had brought the total Thermal Scanners donation cost to $60,000 following a similar donation at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola.