By Septimus Senessie in Kono
Residents of Old Maima and Tongoro towns in Tankoro Chiefdom, Kono District have accused district health workers of dumping into their communities a huge pile of waste associated with the treatment of Ebola virus disease.
The chief of Old Meima Town, Sahr Daniel Gbundema, alleged that “on their way to the Kailahun District Ebola Treatment Centre they [health workers] dumped Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), blood samples of suspected Ebola patients and used clothing of Ebola confirmed people who died in ambulances.”
He told Politico that while everybody was asleep at around 2am on Tuesday 18 November, he saw an ambulance believed to be carrying such waste with materials, and by 10am some youth came in to tell him that they saw “a huge pile of PPEs on the highway few metres from the town containing used clothing of dead Ebola patients, a bank identification card of the nurse that died of the virus on their way to Kailahun.”
He also claimed that there was also “a black plastic bag full of blood samples of suspected Ebola cases among others,” adding that the drivers had also washed the ambulance in the stream running through the villages and which was being used for domestic purposes by people in the community.
Chief Gbundema described the act as “a plot against us by the medics to infect my people with Ebola virus,” adding that after they alerted the medics to the matter for prompt intervention, “they didn’t show up until 4pm after almost all the materials at the dump site had been carted away by passers-by.”
He, however, said that that had posed a serious threat to the lives of hundreds of people in Tankoro and Fiama chiefdoms who would normally use the road to do their normal businesses on a daily basis.
The chief also alleged that “the stream, where they washed the ambulance was being used by thousands of people in Tankoro chiefdom alone.”
Meanwhile, the Kono District Ebola Response Centre Coordinator, Paramount Chief Paul Gabba Saquee V of Tankoro Chiefdom confirmed that the driver of one of their ambulances did dump the said materials in the two communities, an act he condemned.
He said they had already arrested and detained the two drivers at the Tankoro Native Administrative lockups but could not tell what kind of disciplinary action would be taken against them.
PC Saquee also said they had dispatched surveillance officers into the communities to trace those who might have possibly taken away the used clothing and PPEs while further investigations were on-going.
He said they needed to establish the motive behind the drivers’ action to leave the hospital where there were provisions for dumping PPEs and washing of ambulances after work.
Speaking to Politico, the senior driver of the fleet, Aiah Konoboy, said they did not mean to dump the PPEs, the used clothing of Ebola patients and the blood samples into the community, adding they arrived in Kono late from Kailahun district and with no provision at the hospital to wash the ambulance.
“With no option we decided to go to the community to wash the ambulance and in the cause of that my assistant driver dumped the materials,” he admitted.
Executive Secretary of the civil society network in Kono District, Momoh Gbonkor Bangura also described the act as “a deliberate attempt by the health workers to infect the people with the Ebola virus.” He said they had mounted up an investigation into the matter “because we believe the plot is a well organised one by some senior health workers in collaboration with the ambulance drivers to spread the virus in the district,” he said.
Mr. Bangura implored medics at the hospital to keep a close eye on those communities where they had dumped materials into.
© Politico 27/11/14
