The deadly enemy appears again!
A suspected Ebola death was last week Thursday reported in Tonkolili District in the Northern Province. According to report, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) dispatched a team supported by international partners to investigate the suspected death and its circumstances.
It could be recalled that medical experts with knowledge in the study of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) warned frequently that the virus has a history of recurring in all the countries that had experience the outbreak, citing countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda where the outbreak of EVD recurred five times in the 1970’s before it was put under control after they had learned their lesson. Also during his recent political tour of the country, the former Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, reiterated the recurrence of EVD in countries that had once experienced and warned Sierra Leoneans to observe the health regulations and bye-laws for the prevention of the virus. Even President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma warned Sierra Leoneans against complacency when the country was declared Ebola free by WHO on Saturday 7th November, 2015, but it seems that those warnings fell on deaf ears with the recurrence of another Ebola outbreak just after two months eleven days when Sierra Leoneans said bye-bye to Ebola.
But the trouble with Sierra Leoneans is rumour mongering. Even before the suspected Ebola death was confirmed by the World Health Organisation and the Health Ministry, rumour mongers had already confirmed that someone had died of Ebola in Tonkolili District based on the public notice that was jointly signed by the WHO and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation which used the key phrases “suspected Ebola death” and not “confirmed Ebola death.”
Now that the recurrence of the outbreak of EVD has been confirmed in Sierra Leone as reported in the media, we should be more robust and resilient in fighting it this time around than the first outbreak when both Government and the people initially failed to stem its spread when the first case of Ebola was reported on 25th May 2014 in Kissi Teng Chiefdom in the Kailahun District. The first reported victim was infested with the wicked virus in neighbouring Guinea and later travelled to Kissi Teng Chiefdom on the Guinea border where the victim eventually died after infecting other unsuspecting people who were treating or had contact with the sick.
By the time Sierra Leoneans had realized that a strange deadly virus was in their midst, hundreds of them had already contacted it because they never knew how to prevent themselves from the killer disease. Worst still, the outbreak coincided with a pending Population and Housing (PHC) announced by the Sierra Leone Statistics (SLS) which many people from Kailahun District misinterpreted as a way of eliminating them ahead of the next presidential and parliamentary elections.
Besides, the Ebola outbreak also came at a time when our health sector was nothing to write home about. When the virus struck, the country had only one virologist knowledgeable in the study of the virus but could not live to tell the story. The country had a few medical facilities to scope with the outbreak, a few health workers and lack of ambulances to take suspected Ebola patients to holding and treatment centres. The weakness of the health sector therefore took its toll on the lives of over hundred of our health workers especially those who volunteered to fight the virus on the frontlines because they were not equipped enough to protect themselves from contacting the deadly virus, while the general populace was at the mercy of the epidemic.
Moreover, the lack of adequate resources by our Government to take on the virus head-on and the slow international response also exacerbated the spread of the virus to the nook and cranny of the country. The Government’s shoestring resources were diverted to fighting the virus when international response was extremely slow thereby putting all development programmes on hold.
But now that our health sector has been strengthened by the international response and friends of this country like the People’s Republic of China, and the people have gained awareness on how to prevent themselves from contacting the virus, Government should not relent in putting very robust measures in place for the containment of the virus in Tonkolili District. To break the chain of infection, for example, Government should immediately quarantine the town or village where the suspected Ebola death has been confirmed as Ebola death by the medical team that was sent by the MoHS with support from international partners. If resources are available, Government should even quarantine the entire district since it shares borders with many districts in the Northern, Eastern and Southern Regions such as, Bombali, Koinadugu, Port Loko, Kenema, Kono, Bo and Moyamba districts.
Furthermore, Government should pronounce the robust enforcement of the health regulations and bye-laws that govern the Ebola fight. In this case, all the forces, traditional and religious leaders, concerned organizations and groups as well as volunteers should be up and running to ensure that the health regulations and bye-laws are full enforced to stem the spread of the disease to other districts. The use of thermometers to test the temperature of people must be immediately re-introduced at checkpoints, border crossings, health facilities and public offices. That is why Government should deploy more health workers to Tonkolili District whose hospital has been reportedly closed to the public out of previous experience as well as the neighbouring districts to test the temperatures of those travelling out of or into the affected district.
By and large, we the people of this country must be psychologically strong in fighting the recurrence of the deadly Ebola so that it would not spread to other districts again. We should not treat this second round of the Ebola outbreak with complacency as the President had always advised. Let us intensify the observation of our health regulations and bye-laws for the Ebola fight to discourage its spread to other parts of the country.
It is only hoped that this time round this recurrence of the Ebola virus disease in the Tonkolili District will not be interpreted otherwise.
By Thomas Vandi Gbow
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