Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, has directed the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health to interrogate the Ministers of Local Government and Health over the nation�s preparedness to deal with an Ebola outbreak.
The meeting is to afford the Ministers the opportunity to brief the House through the committee on the measures being put in place to deal with a possible outbreak of the deadly disease.
The Speaker issued this directive on the back of an urgent question asked by the Manhyia South Member of Parliament (MP), Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh on the issue.
His question was also an attempt to drag the Health Ministry to Parliament to answer questions on Ghana�s Ebola surveillance plans.
Parliament was called for an emergency sitting on Wednesday during which they considered and approved a number of new multi-million dollar loans and other agreements.
Legislators among other things, also approved the appointment of Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah as Trade and Industry Minister
During the special meeting, the Speaker acknowledged the concerns raised, Dr. Opoku Prempeh but explained that the House was unable to get the necessary update on the matter �because when the Member from Manhyia South raised the issue, we thought that our sitting was going to extend but that will not be possible.�
�The Ministers are therefore expected to brief the select committee on Ghana�s preparedness for any eventualities in that regard,� he said.
Doe Adjaho added that after the briefing of the select committee, �the leadership of Parliament will then decide whether to call the Ministers here when we re-open and when the House re-convenes by the end of this month or early November.�
Meanwhile, the Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Victor Bampoe has told Citi News, the nation is �moderately� prepared to combat the disease, adding that, preparations are still underway.
The United Nations (UN) Mission on Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) is also in the country to establish a logistics centre in Accra where 250 UN personnel will be operating from.
They will be assisting Ebola-stricken nations to fight and contain the disease.
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