SA on Ebola high alert – Government calls for business’s support in fighting it at source

There is a low level of trust between South Africa's business community and most sections of its Government. The Department of Health, however, is an outlier – an area where the public-private partnership has delivered good results, leading to mutual respect.  The Department's Director General Precious Matsoso visited the CNBC Africa Power Lunch studio today to talk about this– and to call for a joint business/Government reaction to the 'Ebola high alert' crisis. A number of businesses have already jumped in to help, showing the benefits of warm engagement and jointly shared objectives. – AH

ALEC HOGG: It's all about Ebola and South Africa's Director-General of Health, Precious Matsoso is with us in the studio. Precious, thank you for coming through to us. Before we get to your call to getting business to play along and let's keep Ebola out of South Africa, how close have you been to the developments? In particular, West Africa, where it is now growing by the day.

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: Well, the closest we've been was through our laboratory that we established – the NICD Lab (the National Institute of Communicable Diseases). As you may recall, we deployed the team to set up a mobile lab, so we're in contact with them on a daily basis. I call them. I send them text messages, not just to give them moral support but also to establish what more South Africa can do. It's clear that labour alone is not enough and we've had calls I believe, from the U.N. Secretary-General, the Director-General of WHO, and other partners and we've seen countries that have pledged not only money, but also support and resources for example, people and hospitals etcetera.

ALEC HOGG: How bad is it in West Africa?

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: It's really bad. It's growing and our response must be not only humanitarian, but it must also be about a business in South Africa. South Africa has business interests in West Africa and if we don't respond, I think it would be a lost opportunity but it would also be sad, really. Our immediate reaction when WHO announced that in six months' time, we would have lost 20,000 lives or we'd have 20,000 infections… The problem is that the case fatality is quite high.

ALEC HOGG: Fifty-five percent.

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: Exactly. For every two people who are infected, one dies. We are saying we can't wait and just count bodies, surely.

ALEC HOGG: Definitely not. What about our country? What about South Africa? How have you got the barriers to ensure that this terrible disease doesn't come here?

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: Well, remember we've had an Ebola outbreak before. It wasn't an outbreak. It was a transported case from DRC Congo. We were able to respond, so we do have the ability and we do have the capacity. I think that what people are asking is if indeed, we do as a country in Africa, why are we not providing support. It's not about responding in South Africa when Ebola when the first case is reported. It's about 'how do we even prevent that from happening'.

ALEC HOGG: How are you doing that? What are the borders? Do you have temperature gauges at the borders? Does it come in?

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: In South Africa, we have scanners. We have personal protective equipment. I think the stuff that we see people wearing as if they are on the moon – we have those lined up in our hospitals. We've actually trained all our staff in hospitals where we are going to treat. We're not going to treat Ebola cases in all hospitals, but there's a level of preparedness on our side in all our hospitals with protective equipment.

ALEC HOGG: So Precious, if we have an Ebola outbreak, we are prepared for it. However how do we stop people who are carriers from coming into the country?

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: By intervening in West Africa, by being present there not only in terms of lab, which we already have. We want to set up a field hospital there. We would like to have South Africans volunteer. In Sierra Leone for example, they need ambulances. We had some companies pledging that they would make those available. They need personal protective equipment. They need medicines. They need supplies. Most of the companies have pledged support by saying that South African companies will make those available.

ALEC HOGG: You're very close clearly, from your position to the people in the health sector in South Africa: the Netcare's, the MediClinics, and the Life Healthcare etcetera. Are they coming to the party?

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: They announced today that they are pledging support. FirstRand has said 'yes, we will make sure that people are transported'. We've had quite a lot of companies today announcing 'count us in. We'll help. We are available'.

ALEC HOGG: They like you. When I get business leaders coming in here; generally, they're sceptical about the governance, but the Department of Health they love. Why is it? What have you guys done at the Department of Health that you have this trust levels with business, which don't seem to be shared universally in our country?

PRECIOUS MATSOSO: Well, I guess perhaps, the first problem… You know, we come from a history of HIV/Aids and our response to hearing people say globally, 'how did you do it' and we said it would not have happened if we didn't have partnerships. We've seen that partnerships work and it is for that reason that we said 'if we could partner in responding to HIV, we can also partner in responding to Ebola'. I think their expectation (and this is my fear) is that when we go to West Africa, people will also learn from us on how we respond. They're asking for things like management. They say 'you have good managers. You have excellent logisticians'. They want those types of skills. They want that kind of support.

ALEC HOGG: Well Precious, I hope you can talk to your Cabinet colleagues or rather, get your Minister to talk to the Cabinet colleagues and get the other DG's to bring this partnership/relationship that you've managed so well between public and private sectors. It's one of those areas we in South Africa are struggling with, but not at the Department of Health. That was the South African Director-General of Health, Precious Matsoso.