By Mohamed Massaquoi
Pujehun district council chairman has told an Ebola taskforce meeting that the health sector in the southern district has failed in the fight against the disease that has claimed over 900 lives across the country.
Sadiq Silla said: “health workers have not been working in the interest of the district...their major concern is incentives. They have completely forgotten about their responsibilities in the whole process and they lack discipline”, he claimed.
He said he would henceforth take “full leadership in the fight against Ebola because technocrats have failed the district”, and called on other stakeholders to join the fight and save the lives of residents of the entire district.
He told police and military personnel “to take full control over all health centers in the district with immediate effect in terms of providing security and monitoring the inflow of even health workers, especially those that are attached to the main government hospital because of the way they handled those two confirmed cases.”
He said he wouldn't allow anybody to undermine the efforts of the health ministry and the government. He therefore announced a ban on all congregational worship in the district until the end of October.
The ban was endorsed by the district chief imam, Sheik Fuad Majid, and his Christian counterpart.
Chairman of the local policing partnership board, Joseph Mende, slammed the health workers for their “unprofessional behaviour” and accused them of undermining the efforts of government in the fight against Ebola.
Meanwhile, the medical officer in the Pujehun district had admitted that the negligence of his staff caused the recent outbreak of and deaths related to Ebola in the district.
Dr. David Bome’s outburst comes after a volunteer nurse contracted the disease and later died.
He told an Ebola taskforce meeting in Pujehun town that his staff had given him “the wrong information about the Ebola Virus Disease while concentrating on cash incentives.”
The district medical officer said his workers had allowed ordinary people to enter the holding center to interact with the patients. He insisted: “I met the wife of the late ambulance driver in the holding center washing the body of her husband. The entire district is now at high risk of the Ebola virus and nobody should interact with health workers because of the possibility that they are infected with the virus.”
Dr. Bome apologised on behalf of his staff and urged the people to “forget about the past and join the fight against Ebola and save the lives of all residents of the district. I am ready to sacrifice my life for the people of this district”.
The district disease surveillance officer, Musa Sesay, told Politico that because of the two confirmed cases, nine houses in the township had been quarantined together with houses in six other villages.
(C) Politico 14/10/14
