Events
in the night of Friday 18th July 2014 saw the escape from Isolated
Observation, of a pregnant woman by the name Mariatu (surname and
address withheld) from the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH)
along Fourah Bay Road. According to medical staff who asked not to be
named, Mariatu, from her presenting symptoms, was presumed to be a
suspected Ebola case. Blood samples were taken from her and sent to
Kenema for testing. It was whilst the medical team were awaiting
confirmation that she was advised to be kept under observation in
isolation from other pregnant patients.
According
to numerous residents of Fourah Bay Road, the fracas first happened on
Thursday 17th July, when Mariatu's relatives refused the possibility of
her being an Ebola patient and vehemently rejected for her to be kept in
isolation. Mariatu's relatives and close friends laid siege at the PCMH
isolation unit, demanding her release. The police however were called
in and managed to quell that riot and send her relatives away that
Thursday.
On
Friday evening, the relatives came back but with a huge group of
well-muscled young men said to have been recruited from places near her
residence in Eastern Freetown's Kissy suburbs.
The
youths and a loud bunch of women, manhandled the security personnel at
the gates, marched to the Isolation room and forcibly helped Mariatu to
escape from the hospital. The nurses on duty were threatened and
over-powered by the group from Kissy in the east end of Freetown.
One
of the nurses on duty was slapped and further threatened for attempting
to stop the escape. Mariatu was then put on a motorbike which sped off
with her under the pouring rain. This newspaper correspondents were
right at the scene as Mariatu was being driven off on an okada under a
heavy rainfall.
"If
this lady is found to be positive when the test results are out, it is
obvious that the okada rider who drove off with her under the pouring
rain, other close relatives and friends who touched her, stand the risk
of being infected," a resident of Fourah Bay Road, Madam Rahman
pondered.
"With
all the reports about Ebola, if these people still do not believe this
is a security threat to all of us, they will not come back to the
hospital even if they get infected. They are the ones who will hide and
continue spreading the disease until the situation gets worse. It is
only when they start dying that they will believe. May God help us in
this country and give our authorities the wisdom to handle this deadly
plague," John Koroma, a university student visiting his sister said.
Neither
the security nor the nurses at the PCMH obliged to grant an interview
on record except to confirm the dismal incident that a suspected Ebola
patient had left the premises without waiting for her test results to
come in.
However,
according to an eyewitness Sorie Kamara, whose pregnant wife was also
admitted, the escapee's people became angry when they were refused
access to see their loved one.
As
the matter was being widely discussed on social media, Mr. James Kanu,
one of the neighbours of the pregnant woman on Saturday morning, in an
exchange with popular musician Nasser Ayoub, stated that the Health
officials just wanted to "kill" the pregnant woman. Writing in the local
Krio parlance, he stated, (as translated):
"It
is lies. They just wanted to kill the family's poor pregnant woman. The
lady went to deliver her baby only for her to be told she had Ebola.
They locked her up without food and water so she called her people
enquiring if they want her to die? That is why her people went to take
her away from the hospital. Let these officials get out from in front of
citizens. Now commodity prices going up and citizens suffering."
Continuing on Facebook to justify the forceful removal of the patient from the hospital, James Kanu wrote to Nasser Ayoub:
"Nasser
believe me that people are now afraid to go to hospital when they
develop fever. I know the lady in question. Just that the lady's
condition was deplorable with the pregnancy and she was weeping in
serious pains according to a close relative".
Meanwhile,
still on social media, another eye-witness to the initial fracas, is
popular phone-in texter, Tunde Scott who lives next to the hospital. He
wrote thus:
"I
live next to PCMH and I was fortunate to witness the incident
unfolding... I was at PCMH the day before when the riot was on between
relatives and medical staffs. One of her relatives was demanding that
they must discharge her - 'mekebola go kill wi now naose' - her words. I
blame the police at PCMH; why did they allow her to escape? The nurse
on duty even received a slap from one of relatives. This is no make-up
because I was there up to when the team dealing with suspected Ebola
victims arrived in an ambulance at PCMH. Let anyone challenge my facts!"
However,
in fairness to the Sierra Leone Police, our press team observed after
the incident that adequate security or rather efficient security is not
present at the PCMH 'Cottage Hospital'. The police officers on duty were
not adequately protected enough to try to restrain an escaping Ebola
suspect. Infact, we observed that only one gateman in plain clothes wore
gloves that night. The gloves on his hands were stained and filthy
giving the impression he had wore them the whole of the day.
In
further investigations, this newspaper deployed a team to monitor the
hospital on Saturday and Sunday and we can confirm that the security
personnel stationed there seem ill-equipped to prevent a repeat of the
last two riots at their location by Mariatu's relatives.
There
are other serious lapses that need attention apart from the inadequate
security. During the two days observation of PCMH, we did not see any
chlorine water in tapped buckets or soap for washing of hands of
visitors and patients moving in or out of the hospital. There was also
no evidence of sanitizers for people moving in and out of the various
sections of the facility.
Most
importantly also, there was no sensitization presence; (that is a sort
of briefing centre where visitors will be given official sensitization
on Ebola and how to contain its spread, especially to convince and warn
the unbelievers). Neither the security post nor main entrance to the
hospital itself, had any form of active sensitisation about Ebola going
on. Throughout the whole two days, we did not see anyone stopping PCMH
visitors to speak to them about Ebola.
As
stated earlier in this report, with the police officers not adequately
dressed or protected against contact with an Ebola suspected patient,
many observers at the scene told this newspaper that the police should
not be blamed for the escape of the suspected Ebola patient.
As
we went to press, the Ministry of Health & Sanitation has yesterday
Sunday 20th July 2014, issued a statement saying the test results from
the escaped patient had now come in and it showed the escaped patient
was not an Ebola positive patient.
"The
case been (sic) referred to was kept in the Observation unit at PCMH
while (sic) her blood sample was taken to the Kenema Lassa Laboratory
for the Ebola test. The test result came out negative and that patient
was (sic) longer considered suspected Ebola case" stated the Health
Ministry last night.
The
Ministry also reported that currently the number of Ebola cases
confirmed through laboratory testing in Sierra Leone, was now over four
hundred (400) in number and have been reported in all four regions of
the country.
Thanks
very much for keeping your compatriots informed about the Ebola
epidemic. We expected such from Ministries of Health and Sanitation and
Information and Broadcasting at the unset of the outbreak. 
• The suspected reservoirs for Ebola
are fruit bats.