By Crispina Taylor
As Sierra Leone yearns for the much anticipated start of the 42-day countdown to declare it free of the Ebola epidemic, the effectiveness of the toll-free emergency line has been called to question.
The emergency 117 call line was designed to enable citizens call-in on time in case of a suspected case so that health officials can swiftly respond to prevent any further spread of the virus.
But reports from the ground is that either there is delay to respond to calls or health officials do not turn up at all.
The Chief whip in Parliament last week told journalists that the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) should work on the emergency call hob because those working at checkpoints face huge challenges accessing the toll-free line.
Claude Kamanda, MP, cited the checkpoint at Newton, in his Constituency 95, were he said volunteer workers were facing difficulties with the call line, as their instruction was to let people wash their hands, check their temperature and intercept sick people.
He said on several occasions when sick people had been intercepted and the emergency 117 line was called being upon, they would always delay to respond and in some cases they would not show up on the same day.
He said on 9August this year a sick person, who was intercepted at the checkpoint, died while waiting for ambulance to be taken to the hospital. He claimed that even after several calls the ambulance did not show up at all.
The MP said if those kinds of attitude continued in the emergency response service at NERC some people would revert to hiding their sick people and burying their dead.
The lawmaker wanted to know whether the delay was coming from the call center or from those dispatching the ambulances. He said by now there should be an ambulance stationed at the Newton checkpoint and even the one at Mile 38.
Kamanda said that that challenge was affecting the staff at the checkpoint and making them feel they were not being taken seriously.
He also called on NERC to speed up the Standard Operational Procedure on burial because plenty people held the view that they could bury their dead.
He said this should be quickly worked on and brought before parliament, so that people would know that despite the recent ease of emergency regulations restrictions NERC was still responsible to bury the dead.
The NERC spokesman, Sidi Yaya Tunis, did not return several calls and a text message for their side of the story.
Last week the World Health Organization stressed the need for rapid response to maintain the current trend in the fight against the disease, which has seen the country gone for about two weeks without recording any new case.
As at the end of last week, there were reports that some seven “high risk” suspects were on the run, making vigilance and rapidity on the part of the NERC crucial to preventing any resurgence of the virus.
(C) Politico 25/08/15
