By Bampia James Bundu
Ethanol producing company, Addax Bio Energy, which operates in the Bombali district in northern Sierra Leone, has donated an eight bedroom isolation center for Ebola patients after the area witnessed huge increase in cases.
At the handing over ceremony in Makeni the general manager, Trevor Andres, said when he took over in May this year, there was only 11 cases of Ebola in the country.
“I knew it would not stop in Kailahun or Kenema, due to the speed at which it was spreading”, he said, noting that his company started putting strategies in place to ensure continued operation.
He revealed that to date they had spent $500,000 towards the fight against Ebola in the country and had built two isolation centres.
“We have one in our operational site and another eight bedroom self-contained facility at the Makeni government hospital. We also installed about 300 wash stations for washing hands, brought in expert nurses from South Africa and donated four vehicles to the district,” he said.
“We take Ebola seriously. Four of our staff were infected, two died and two survived. We are doing all we can as a company to ensure that we combat Ebola in the district in particular and the country in general”, he assured.
District Medical Officer, Dr. Tom Sesay, explained that the facilities would also be used as holding centres, in addition to two existing ones in the district. He said the centres were safe and conducive and revealed that they would house about fifteen people.
Dr. Sesay said that the British were constructing a treatment center for the district and that the Magbenteh hospital was also under rehabilitation to be used as a treatment centre.
“In the next two weeks we hope to have a treatment centre that will enable us to treat our cases here”, he said.
Resident Minister North, Alie Kamara, commended Addax for their support towards the fight against Ebola in the district. He said the holding centre was one of the best in the country and it would help the Ebola response team to act fast as possible.
© Politico 28/10/14
