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PRESIDENT JOHN Dramani Mahama on Tuesday condemned the use of social media by unscrupulous elements to create unnecessary panic on serious national issues. He said the propagation of such negative messages did not only misinform the masses, but also created disaffection between government and members of the public. President Mahama expressed these sentiments when he broke the ground for the commencement of work on the $36.5 million sugar factory at Komenda in the Central Region. He particularly condemned the messages that were making rounds in the social media to the effect that there was an outbreak of Ebola disease in Ghana, and that government was hiding the reports from the people for political reasons, as well as the panic that was created about four years ago, concerning the hoax about an earthquake. President Mahama said the Ebola virus was a dangerous and serious issue and it was, therefore, unacceptable for anyone to engage in such pranks that could create unnecessary panic and fear among Ghanaians. He expressed solidarity with the governments and people of the West African countries where Ebola had occurred, and gave the assurance that he would use his position as the ECOWAS Chairman to explore possible solutions to the crisis. President Mahama advised Ghanaians to observe all the basic preventive measures so as to avoid the entry of the deadly disease into the country. He said government would put in place all the necessary measures that would protect the citizenry from the disease adding, �You also have the responsibility to observe all the measures to safeguard against the disease.� In a related development, Alhaji Mohammed Limuna-Muniru, Northern Regional Minister, says the Government had budgeted 30 million Ghana cedis to deal with the Ebola disease out of which nine million Ghana cedis had already been released for procurement of logistics in preparedness towards any possible outbreak. He said additional six million Ghana cedis out of the total budget was being released to fully prepare the country towards any eventuality saying; �10,000 Personal Protection Equipment are being procured to be used by health personnel in case of an outbreak �the equipment will be in the country by 29th of this month�. Alhaji Limuna-Muniru said this in Tamale on Tuesday during a sensitisation workshop aimed at educating key stakeholders about the disease and also to make known some of the measures being put in place to prevent and contain the disease. He advised Ghanaians against spreading falsehood that the disease was already in Ghana explaining that Ebola was no respecter of persons nor does it segregates political personalities noting that no doctor or government would conceal the facts from the people. The Minister cautioned those hiding behind political colours and creating disaffection between the Government and the populace to stop and stressed that Government was taking serious measures to prevent the disease from infesting the country. Alhaji Limuna-Muniru said special ambulances were also being procured to deal with the disease in case of an outbreak and urged Ghanaians to be patient because the Government was fully prepared to handle it. He said very soon, 2,250 educative posters would be brought to the region and distributed to the general public to educate them on the disease. He entreated all the districts in the region to be proactive in the measures being adopted by the Government to fight the disease and carry out sensitization through the Information Services Department to ensure that people understood the symptoms relating to Ebola. Dr. Akwasi Twumasi, Northern Regional Director of Health, said all the suspected Ebola cases in the country had been tested and proved negative and asked the public not to panic since everything was under control. He advised the public to make good use of hand sanitizers and avoid touching dead relatives especially when they do not know the causes of death saying that traditional practices, which had the tendency to spread the disease, must be stopped. Dr. Jacob Mahama, Deputy Director in-charge of Public Health, said isolation wards had been allocated in all the districts in the region while a health team and an ambulance had been designated for the purposes of Ebola in case of an outbreak. He said studies had showed that Ebola was contracted from wild animals and spread from human to human through body flues with bleeding from the nose and severe fever as the commonest symptoms. Dr. Mahama said a taskforce had also been formed on the disease while radio sensitization, public education, orientation of health staff among other things, was being carried out to assist in preventing the disease.