By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
Commercial transports have become the new route of transmission of the Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, making them a serious threat to the country`s fight against the ongoing Ebola epidemic, the National Ebola Response Center (NERC) said Wednesday.
Retired Major Paulo Conteh, head of the NERC, said they have observed in the past weeks that taxi drivers were transporting sick people to treatment centers at different parts across the country. He said he was gravely concerned about such risky and harmful acts.
“Every time a taxi driver takes a sick patient in his car to hospital and that patient is tested Ebola positive, that driver is putting his life and the lives of other future passengers at risk,” Conte said at his usual weekly press conference at the NERC headquarters on Jomo Kenyatta Road in Freetown.
The NERC boss said the Center was planning to roll out new strategies to enforce laws that prevent drivers from aiding the movement of sick people, and this include involving the Sierra Leone Drivers` Union.
NERC wants to re-emphasis the use of the free toll line dedicated for the public to request for help relating to Ebola cases.
“There is the 117 service, and we have the right ambulances with trained and experienced teams to operate them. Use them,” he urged.
The NERC CEO also revealed that one of the biggest cemeteries in the Western Urban Area, the Kingtom Cemetery, where all Ebola victims are officially buried, was now full. And in that regard, he added, bodies will now be taken to Waterloo.
“For the time being, all Western Area burials will have to take place at waterloo, until we are able to provide additional space in the west of Freetown.”
Conte also said while transmission of new cases of the Ebola virus disease were gradually declining in some towns and villages, new cases were still popping up in other parts of the country, citing in particular the north-west of the country.
He noted that last week, for instance, Kambia alone recorded 10 new confirmed cases, while Bombali and Porto Loko recorded 6 and 10 respectively.
To address the situation in Kambia, Retired Major Paulo Conteh said NERC was planning to sign an agreement with officials in Guinea between Forecariah Prefecture and Kambia so that they would allow teams from the Sierra Leonean side to work across the border on closer cooperation in the areas of surveillance and border protection.
In addition, there are plans to build a mobile Ebola testing lab in Kambia.
“Kambia is the district bordering a hotspot in Guinea and has to manage the Ebola Virus Disease risk from across the border” Conteh said.
© Politico 20/03/15
