New York, US (PANA) – The UN World Health Organization says that it is too early to tell if restrictions on health workers through mandatory quarantine will deter medical staff from traveling to West Africa to help fight the Ebola crisis.
A brief WHO statement on Tuesday said the UN health agency does not recommend mandatory quarantine for health workers.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic stated: “It is really important to balance any measure between what is perceived as protecting a population and a risk of stigmatization, and we desperately need international health workers.”
“We keep calling for health workers. They are the key to this response and these people should not be treated when coming home in a way that they would be stigmatized.”
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity and that they should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science.
The American States of New York, New Jersey and Illinois have introduced a 21-day quarantine for all health workers who have had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa.
The three states had refused to change their quarantine policy, in spite of new federal guidelines in the US, which said that American medical personnel returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa would be actively monitored but not placed in quarantine.
The ruling came after a nurse was put in isolation in a tent outside a hospital in New Jersey, a decision that has caused outrage among politicians and health workers in the US.
Also, Australia has been criticised for a ban on visas for citizens from West Africa.
