By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Spokesman of the ministry of health has said that “it is very difficult to deny” allegations from some members of the public that Ebola burial teams are receiving bribes from relatives of dead people.
Jonathan Abass Kamara said claims that “the burial teams remove corpses of Ebola victims or release corpses of non-Ebola people for burial for personal gains, cannot be dismissed entirely.” He added: “I am not with them when they conduct their burial activities, so I can’t deny that.”
He said his ministry had received complaints from people across the country about burial teams receiving bribes but he encouraged the public to report such to the ministry or the nearest police station, adding that: “The ministry will closely monitor the situation and will work with heads of Ebola burial teams to stop such an act if at all it does exist.”
In a press release dated October 3, 2014 the ministry condemned the act of receiving bribes by burial teams from bereaved families. The statement described the behaviour as “unprofessional,” and urged families to refrain from giving money to burial teams because Ebola-related burials were free of cost.
But the director of communications in the health ministry, Sidi Yayah Tunis, dismissed the allegations at the weekly press briefing. He said, “Such allegations will undermine the efforts of government in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.”
He called on the public to cooperate with the burial teams so that they could achieve their goal. He said such allegations “should not come up at a crucial moment like this.”
