By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Representative of the American medical institution,the Center for Disease Control in Sierra Leone, has observed that government needs more laboratories to tackle the spread of the Ebola virus.
Dr. Carrie Nielsen yesterday told a press conference at the Cathedral Hall in Freetown that they had recorded about 70 to 80% of Ebola cases and that “these far outweigh the available laboratories in the country.”
She urged the government of Sierra Leone to take many decisions, including standard operating procedures, to cut off transmission rates and to offer Ebola victims dignified burials.
She said the CDC would support the National Ebola Response Centre, which replacedthe Emergency Operations Centre, to contain the outbreak of Ebola in the country.
District medical officer of Western Area, Dr. Thomas Takpawu Samba, said the delays in burying Ebola victims were, among other things, as a result of insufficient laboratories to conduct tests.
“We are bounded up with the policies of the National Emergency Response Centre and we are mandated to quarantine a house only if we have the laboratory results,” said Takpawu, adding: “I wish we could give out a laboratory result within 24 hours.”
Mayor of the Freetown Municipality, Franklyn Bode Gibson, said they had secured a space within the city to house some one thousand beds. He said they were planning to work closely with tribal heads in the municipality so that information on Ebola could be constantly taken to the people’s doorsteps.
Gibson said they would also work with the CDC, alongside their plans to tackle the problem of children trading on streets of Freetown.
(C) Politico 21/10/14
