By Mabinty Kamara
Following a number of recent Ebola cases in Ward 357 in constituency 100, in the Jalloh Terrace area of Kissy, the councillor last weekend convened an emergency meeting of community stakeholders to discuss measures to stem the tide of Ebola cases.
Addressing the meeting attended by health workers, religious leaders, civil society groups and the Member of Parliament for the area, Councillor Mohamed Sulaiman Turay said he had done his best to "stop Ebola from entering my ward by sensitising the people, providing chlorine and buckets and I am still doing more."
He said he had been received many calls from people in his ward about the delay in getting support through the 117 helpline and "I have also found it difficult getting through to117 to respond to suspected cases."
A tribal authority, Chief Alimamy Kanu expressed dissatisfaction over the "neglect of this constituency by those we expect much from." He said sometimes it took three to four days to get help through 117 when people had reported sick but that as soon as they died the ambulance would turn up to pick up the corpse.
"May be they want all of us to die here if not they will be more concerned about saving the lives of the sick, not just collecting dead bodies."
The chief said the community people were "trying to establish a 24-hour holding centre at the Approved School so that we can take sick people out of our homes...We want our MP and our councillor to support us in the fight against Ebola in our community."
Abu Sankoh, a resident, said people were “dying at an alarming rate” in the area. He said "recently eight bodies were collected at a go because people did not get help." Sankoh mentioned the case of a woman named Kumba whom he said had "lost her husband and other relatives and was lying sick waiting to be collected for days but to no avail only to be rescued by six young men who carried her down the hill."
The MP for the area, Mohamed Jawara Kamara told Politico in an interview that he was aware of the situation in his constituency and promised to do all in his power to defeat Ebola there. He urged the people to be patient with him because he became an MP only five months ago.
Jalloh Terrace is one of the most depressed communities in Freetown.
© Politico 19/11/14
