Despite discharging 121 out of 125 people previously admitted to Mashesha Health Centre with cases of food poisoning last week, residents in Gitambi Sector, Rusizi District were reminded to observe proper hygiene and sanitation after suspicions of drinking contaminated banana juice at a wedding ceremony. 

The ceremony didn’t go down well as the attendants started complaining of severe fever, headaches, stomach pain and vomiting, among other symptoms of food poisoning. 

Gervais Ndagijimana, the health centre director suspects poor hygiene during manufacture, handling and storage as the source of the poisoning.

In Bujumbura, Burundi, health authorities within the armies in these West and East African regions were urged to put emphasis on training medical staff and surveillance against malaria in a three-day forum that included participants from, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Djibouti, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo and Ghana. 

Blooming infections on the African continent have called for travel bans in some countries and stringent laws on Ebola patients as it is also illegal in some West African countries to hide an Ebola patient. 

Hope the efforts to develop an Ebola vaccine by the International consortium pick up since a series of trials on a group of volunteers in UK, The Gambia and Mali could start as early as September.

As if these plague problems are not nightmarish enough, investigations by The New Times indicate that some unscrupulous doctors actually give out medical leaves without check-up with a fee ranging between Rwf3,000 and Rwf5,000. 

Employees who seek this option claim that employers are reluctant to give out these leaves. On arrival to the clinic, one requests to see the doctor in private. Once in the consultation room, all you have to say is that you need medical leave to stay away from work.

Such is the pain. At a fee, the medical ethic is trashed down the drain, and the productivity of the labour market is compromised. This had better not get to a cancerous level. End the vice before it is deep rooted.