By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo
A group of 12 people in quarantine in Bo are threatening to abandon the facility over alleged poor treatment in the hands of the District Emergency Operation Center (DEOC).
The aggrieved people who are under quarantine at the Two Stars Guesthouse in Bo city attempted to break out of the facility on Thursday. Among many concerns, they claimed that the DEOC officials had abandoned them and that their families were left stranded back home with no support for feeding.
There was a scene in the facility Thursday morning as the people who had packed their belongings tried to force their way out of the compound. They were prevented from having their way security officers.
“Since they came with us here, they have abandoned us. Nobody is visiting us, except the psychosocial workers. Yesterday we didn’t get dinner because the hotel said they haven’t paid for our food. We are bread winners of our families. We have heard of food being distributed to quarantine homes, but it has not reached our families,” one of them narrated.
They were also unhappy because, according to them, even though they had already completed two weeks of quarantine, the authorities continue to delay their discharge without explanation. They said they suspected that this could be as a result of delay in processing their test results.
“On Sunday they took three people from among us. Even though they were healthy, they said they were positive. We have completed our quarantine yesterday and we understand that hence some of us have tested positive; we will be kept a bit longer for further observation. But our major problem is no one has come here to talk to us,” a female occupant of the quarantine facility lamented in a phone interview.
Another female resident of the facility said she couldn’t afford to stay any longer because she was a suckling mother.
"I am a suckling mother, with an 11 months old child. I have left my child and I am a bread winner of my family. So we want to go and feed our families,” she said.
“If they come to take anyone again from us, they will take all of us away” she added.
Following the incident on Thursday, DEOC members, the Resident Minister and other stakeholders all rushed to the hotel to appeal to the quarantined people to stay put.
A spokesperson for the DEOC, Francess Mummy Jabaty, said the people were just trying to get the attention of authorities. She however admitted that the DEOC was already spread thin given their huge demand for contact tracing.
“We are constrained in Bo; those in quarantine are too much. We have 505 people in quarantine to supply food and we just have 27 contact tracers to go around,” Jabaty said.
“And in fact, some of those in Two Stars, their families have received some food. They just haven’t contacted their families. We have now got the data and we will make sure those who haven’t received food immediately get their shares. Food distribution is still ongoing,” she added.
Politico understands that the DEOC hasn’t received funds to pay the bills for those quarantined at the Two Stars Guesthouse, something that has partly contributed to the constraints most of those in quarantine are facing.
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