Ebola in Sierra
Leone: 'Our Doctors are Dying; World is Letting them Die' (Salone Post, Sierra Leone)
"Where is
the world? Our doctors are dying. Our nurses are dying. Our lab technicians are
dying and yet help does not come. The only medical professionals getting
life-saving treatment are foreign nationals, people from America and Europe. … If we have no doctors and no nurses, who will treat our people?
How will they survive this? … Perhaps it's because we are African, or my
country is too small or too poor or because we have no oil? … Our staff are
afraid. Their families are afraid of them when they go home. They are dying and
the world is letting them die. We are on our own and running out of time.
By Miata Jambawai, Country
Program Manager, Aids Healthcare Foundation
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE: On Friday, 19th September, Sierra
Leone embarked on a 3-day national shutdown for Ebola house-to-house sensitization,
deploying thousands of government staff, NGO workers and volunteers in an
attempt to identify Ebola infections and educate a frightened public about the
realities of the disease. As the Country Program Manager for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), I am a member of the Rapid Response Team for the
3-day Ebola sensitization.
There is no hospital or clinic untouched by this disease and
we are losing healthcare workers every day. AHF has lost
our Medical Director Dr. Khan to Ebola in July, and his passing has left a
vacuum in our organization that cannot easily be described, let alone filled.
He was a leading expert in his field and our country is in dire need of medical
professionals if we are to halt the spread of this disease. Before this
pandemic began to ravage our country, he provided care for our patients in the AHFKenema clinic. Our ability to
effectively treat patients is crippled as he was not only providing care for
HIV patients, but he was a mentor for our staff. It is likely to be very
difficult to recruit a replacement; even once the Ebola crisis passes. Where
will we find another doctor as committed and passionate as Dr. Khan was in our
HIV response? We have also lost a NACP lab/CD4
technician to Ebola, leaving another gap in our disintegrating healthcare
system.
Where is the world? Our doctors are dying. Our nurses are
dying. Our lab technicians are dying and yet help does not come. The only
medical professionals getting life-saving treatment are foreign nationals,
people from America and Europe. Dr. Olivet Buck contracted Ebola and despite
pleas to the World Health Organization for a medivac
to Germany where a facility was waiting to admit her, she was denied the
opportunity and left to die, yet when one WHO lab tech contracted Ebola in Kenema and the entire team evacuated. Most samples are now
sent to the overburdened, under-resourced Kenema
hospital where the CDC lab is located - a hospital where dozens of staff have
become infected and many have died.
If we have no doctors and no nurses, who
will treat our people? How will they survive this? Our hospitals lack
basic medical supplies like gloves, facemasks and boots. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Red
Cross are on the front lines of Ebola, running the isolation units and treating
the sick. AHF has distributed $450 000 worth of
equipment and supplies, sharing it with national facilities in Freetown and Kenema. We have recruited volunteers to trace our patients
and ensure they receive treatment and we are part of the psychosocial support
team in Kenema for the 3-day house-to-house
sensitization campaign. NGOs are doing all they can - but NGOs don’t command the
military infrastructure. We don’t have endless resources and thousands of
trained personnel. NGOs cannot stop Ebola without help - and help is not
coming.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Perhaps it's because we are African, or my country is too
small or too poor or because we have no oil? Maybe it's because world leaders
can't find Sierra Leone on the map, and this crisis has become one more in a
series of all too familiar Africa tragedies - and that Ebola only grabs Western
headlines when Americans are threatened.
There have been more confirmed cases of Ebola in the past 21
days than in the entire previous six months. Families continue to bury the
dead, risking infection because we lack the staff or resources to help them.
Our staff are afraid. Their families are afraid of
them when they go home. The stigma around the disease has seen our African
brothers close their borders to us and the realities of it are killing our most
valuable weapon in the fight to stop Ebola, our healthcare works. They are
dying and the world is letting them die. We are on our own and running out of
time.
