ITC is welcoming 150 new students during the next weeks, of which a large proportion is from Africa. ‘The majority is from Eastern-Africa, though’, dean Tom Veldkamp states. ‘A handful of students are from West-Africa where there are Ebola outbreaks.’ Chances that these students would bring the dreaded virus along with them, are extremely minimal. ‘The outbreaks almost always occur in isolated areas and disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Our students are usually not from such a background.’
Nonetheless, ITC Student Affairs has contacted the GGD and Veldpoort healthcare centre. ‘We follow their instructions’, Marie-Chantal Metz-Bakkers from Student Affairs explains. ‘Travellers from contaminated areas are checked by the GGD at Schiphol Airport. The GGD advises as follows: a student who is sick with high fever should first call Veldpoort healthcare centre or, when outside office hours, GP point Twente-Oost (HDT-Oost). The general practitioner can decide on how to handle things further. During office hours, students who experience an emergency or illness can also call ITC Student Affairs in order for them to call a doctor to come or to consult with, if necessary.’
Additionally, ITC Student Affairs pays attention to ‘healthcare in The Netherlands’ during the introduction days, about ‘what to do in case of illness or emergency’. ‘As always, we point out the potential risks concerning transmittable diseases, of which Ebola is one.’
The Ebola outbreak in Nigeria had already been reason for ITC to cancel a planned business trip of employees to that country. ‘We will wait until the outbreak is under control.’
