By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The health management team in Pujehun and other stakeholders in the district last week held a cross border meeting on Ebola with their Liberian counterparts at the Bo Waterside Immigration conference hall on the Liberian side of the border.
The District Medical Officer in Pujehun, Dr. David Bome said their aim was to create public awareness on the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and to collaborate with Liberian Immigration officers in combating the disease.
He said Ebola could only be prevented if the two countries worked closely to defeat the disease and pleaded with his audience to use weekly radio programmes to disseminate messages about the virus to people living in borderline communities and promised to visit all Peripheral Health Units along the border to talk to health workers on how to detect and handle Ebola patients.
The Port Health Officer attached to the Immigration Office at Jendema, Mohamed J. Trye disclosed that "very recently a suspected Ebola patient was discovered but was taken away clandestinely by an Okada [commercial motorbike] rider to an unknown destination".
He said "every effort has been made to locate both the rider and the patient but to no avail" and argued that "it is difficult to control Ebola in this part of the two countries because there are twenty six (26) illegal crossing points into Sierra Leone".
The Port Health Officer attached to the Bo Waterside Immigration department, George J. Rewes commended the Pujehun DHMT on "your proactive move made in preventing the disease on your border line". Rewes described Ebola as "a dangerous disease and we are fighting an enemy that we don't see".
(C) Politico 11/06/14
