- Written by Stephen D. Kollie, stephenkollie13@gmail.com 0776329124
- Published: 31 July 2014
Monrovia - The
streets of Voinjama city, the provincial capital of Lofa County, on
Tuesday witness a scene of panic with residents running heater scatter
when dozens of suspected Ebola patients ran from their holding room in
the main hospital’s compound and started loitering around other wards
that hosted several patients with different medical problems.
Tokpa Tarnue, a local journalist on the scene told FrontPageAfrica Wednesday that the majority of the suspected patients were in a holding room at the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital while awaiting their departure for a treatment and isolation center in Foya when they abruptly left their room and moved into other wards that later resulted to all health workers escaping the hospital compound in deep fear.
According to the journalist, the suspected patients managed to leave the hospital premises and ran into various homes and streets, a situation that caused severe panic among citizens and residents of Voinjama who were likewise escaping from the patients fearing not to contract the deadly Ebola virus. He told FrontPageAfrica that for several hours Voinjama was like a ghost town as many residents escaped the city while others locked themselves in their homes.
Said the local journalist: “Everybody left. They had suspected Ebola patients in a holding room that is not well equipped. They are normally kept there before they are taken to Foya. In the process of doing that, those suspected patients left their wards and stating entering the children's ward and other places while they were vomiting and releasing feces at the same time. Based on that the entire hospital staff all left including the doctors and nurses. Up to now they have not gone back to work.”
According to the journalist, the entire Tellewoyan Hospital facility, including the Outpatient Department (OPD) has been temporarily shut down and has been sprayed while heath workers are demanding police protection before they resume work. He said Barkedu town in Quardu Gboni district is now reporting the highest numbers of Ebola cases in the county as compare to Foya which was topping the number of cases.
The Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital is the largest referral hospital in Lofa County, which caters to several critical medical cases in the county. Some health workers in the county have reportedly refused to return to work fearing the deadly Ebola virus that has already killed 672 persons in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
