By Mohamed Massaquoi
Medical officer in the southern district of Pujehun has admitted that the negligence of his staff caused the recent outbreak of and deaths related to Ebola in the district headquarter.
Dr. David Bome’s outburst comes after an ambulance driver and volunteer nurse contracted the disease and later died.
He told an Ebola taskforce meeting in Pujehun town that his staff had given him “the wrong information about the Ebola Virus Disease while concentrating on cash incentives.”
The DMO said his workers had allowed ordinary people to enter the holding center to interact with the patients. He insisted: “I met the wife of the late ambulance driver in the holding center washing the body of her husband.The entire district is now at high risk of the Ebola virus and nobody should interact with health workers because of the possibility that they are infected with the virus.”
Dr. Bomeapologised on behalf of his staff and urged the people to “forget about the past and join the fight against Ebola and save the lives of all residents of the district. I am ready to sacrifice my life for the people of this district”.
Earlier the Pujehun district council chairman, Sadiq Silla, told the taskforce meeting that the health sector had failed the district in the fight against Ebola. “They've not been working in the interest of the district... their major concern is incentives, have completely forgotten about their responsibilities in the whole process and they lack discipline”, he claimed.
Sillah said he would take “full leadership in the fight against Ebola because technocrats have failed the district”, and called on other stakeholders to join the fight and save the lives of residents of the entire district.
He told police and military personnel to “take full control over all health centers in the district with immediate effect in terms of providing security and monitoring the inflow of even health workers, especially those that are attached to the main government hospital because of the way they handled those two confirmed cases.”
He said he wouldn't allow anybody to undermine the efforts of the health ministry and the government and announced a ban on all congregational worship in the district until the end of October.
The ban was endorsed by the district chief imam, Sheik FuadMajid, and his Christian counterpart.
Chairman of the local policing partnership board, Joseph Mende, slammed the health workers for their “unprofessional behaviour” and accused them of undermining the efforts of government in the fight against Ebola.
The district disease surveillance officer, Musa Sesay, told Politico that because of the two confirmed cases, nine houses in the township had been quarantined together with houses in six other villages.
(C) Politico 09/10/14
