Saturday, June 28, 2014
A nurse with ‘Doctors without Borders’ examines a patient at a centre
for victims of the Ebola virus in Guekedou, Guinea. The disease has
since spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. PHOTO | SEYLLOU
AFP
Freetown, Sierra Leone
The
Sierra Leone government has warned that anyone who harbours Ebola
patients faces prosecution after it emerged patients admitted at the
country’s leading Ebola treatment centre were once again forcefully
discharging themselves.
This followed widespread rumours that medications administered by health officials were the causes of the deadly virus.
An
unspecified number of patients have gone into hiding, the Ministry of
Health and Sanitation said Friday, warning of the imminent danger of
mass infection as a consequence.
As of Friday, 181 confirmed Ebola cases have been recorded, with 53 fatalities.
When
the outbreak was first confirmed, the Health ministry had a problem
containing it because of reluctance by locals to cooperate. Health
personnel were pelted and driven away.
But the
hostilities subsided when the government drafted law makers and other
local politicians from the opposition dominated eastern region most
affected by the outbreak.
However, the sudden rise of
cases and fatalities across the country recently has rekindled feelings
of greater uncertainty, so much so that even medical personnel have been
reported abandoning their posts after witnessing their colleagues
dying.
DISPERSE CROWDS
On
Friday, state broadcaster SLBC reported that police used tear gas to
disperse crowds who surrounded the Kenema government hospital, also in
the east of the country, demanding the discharge of their family
members.
“Any person who obstructs or interferes with
the performance of the medical team in any of the Ebola observation and
treatment centres would be guilty of an offence and liable to
punishment,” the health ministry warned.
The regional death toll, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures, stands at 635, with 399 deaths.
This makes the West African outbreak the largest in terms of number of infections and geographical coverage, it said.
The
West African outbreak was first confirmed in Guinea in February before
engulfing neighbouring Liberia and then lately Sierra Leone.
WHO
said the three governments had appeared to relax when the outbreak
slowed in April which gave way for its sudden spike to current levels.
The world health body has therefore categorised the epidemic as a sub regional crisis
and warned neighbouring countries of a possible spillover. “We want
other countries in West Africa to be ready,” said Pierre Formenty, WHO
Ebola specialist.
He singled out Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal and Guinea Bissau as particularly at risk because of their proximity. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Ebola-Outbreak-Health-Sierra-Leone-Hospitals/-/1066/2365386/-/rgar5/-/index.html
