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Auxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter
HEALTH and Child Care Deputy Minister, Dr Paul Chimedza, has allayed fears of possible Ebola transmission from the three bodies of Zimbabweans who died in Nigeria after a church belonging to prophet TB Joshua collapsed in September.

The three are among the 115 people who died after a three-storey guest house attached to the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed on September 12. They are on their way to Zimbabwe for burial.

Dr Chimedza who was speaking on the sidelines of a resource mobilisation breakfast meeting held at a local hotel on Wednesday said the government would not be conducting tests on the bodies as there was a low risk of people contracting the deadly disease.

He said the three did not show any symptoms of the virus before their death.

“Chances that they died of Ebola are almost non-existent. We assume that during their stay at the church, if they had depicted any symptoms, they could have been quarantined. Nigeria has also been declared Ebola free,” said Dr Chimedza.

The deputy minister said his ministry had engaged all funeral parlours in the country on how to depose bodies of people who died in Ebola infected countries.

He said such bodies are surrendered to funeral parlours who are trained in handling them.

“We worry about people who die from Ebola infested countries. What we have done is that we have trained all our funeral parlours on the proper way to dispose of bodies without getting infected. There is no need to test them.

“If it is a body coming from an Ebola infested country, the measures of disposal are different from any other body. We work with the assumption that the body could be infected so all funeral parlour attendants and pall bearers are being trained on how to handle such bodies. There is no need to waste resources on bodies,” said Chimedza.

He said there was also no need for hospital personnel to panic when they receive patients showing suspected Ebola symptoms.

“The majority of our health personnel have been trained to deal with issues of Ebola but it is still an ongoing process. There is no need to panic,” said Dr Chimedza.

The three who died in the Nigeria church disaster are Catherine Ndlovu from Mpopoma suburb in Bulawayo, Jane Sibanda (nee Hwature) from Entumbane also in Bulawayo and Greenwich Ndanga, MDC-T chairman for Mashonaland West.

The three Zimbabweans were among the 74 bodies which were repatriated to South Africa last week and are reportedly in bad state after spending two months in a poorly ventilated mortuary in Nigeria. A representative of the Bulawayo-based Friends of Emmanuel and SCOAN yesterday said the bodies are expected in the country by the end of the week.

The ministry has drawn a budget of $11 million to finance strategies to curb the spread of Ebola in the country if a case is reported.

Meanwhile, Dr Chimedza announced that all hospitals were operating normally after junior doctors returned to work after a two- week strike that almost paralysed service delivery. The doctors were demanding that their salaries be increased from $280 to $1,200 excluding allowances.