Via FrontPageAfrica: Dead Bodies: Health Ministry Failing to Pick up Abandoned. Excerpt:
Monrovia - Following the government of Liberia’s declaration of a national health emergency in the face of the deadly Ebola outbreak that has killed close to 130 Liberians and an entire government ministry at risk because of an employee that died of the deadly disease in Nigeria, there have been reports of dead bodies lying around with no effort by the ministry of health to remove them.
Over the lake that divides the police academy road from the rest of the SKD Boulevard community two objects in the shape of body bags white in color were afloat. Residents and motorists were concerned about the floating object, but all efforts made to contact the health ministry to confirm what the object actually is proved futile as no health response team showed up to remove the object that looked like the body bag in which Ebola victims are buried.
In Harbel, Margibi County it was reported that three persons had died in a house, but the corpses were still in the house three days after. The Gardnersville community was a scene of chaos and confusion as youth blocked the main highway because a corpse had been abandoned for five days and had started to decay.
In the Brewerville suburb outside Monrovia, a mother of three is afraid as news spread of the death of a strange woman who was brought into the community just yards from her house Sunday night. People are dead scared of the disease and many parents are taking their children out of vacation school because of the media campaign that has been waged against the disease by the government over the last two days.
The government had reported that burial teams were facing challenges in burying people who die from the deadly virus as many communities are concerned about people who die from the virus being buried in their areas. Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyeswah told FPA weeks ago that the ministry was concerned that some Liberians were still in denial of the disease.
“We are still having huge challenges with denial; huge challenges with burial practices, that is, people who die from the disease, their family members were finding difficulties to release the bodies to us so that we help them to safely bury,” he said.
Continued Nyensuah: “That’s the major challenge that we are faced with in dealing with the virus. But if everybody can cooperate with the ministry and do away with denial, discrimination; people die of sudden death that you don’t know what killed them, if you can report that to us and release those bodies for us and don’t touch those bodies, for us to safely test the bodies, we can eradicate the disease very, very quick. If the public does not cooperate, we will have a major challenge in eradicating the disease.”
Now that people are reporting that dead bodies are lying around, it is a huge concern that the ministry is not doing anything to remove these bodies. When FrontPageAfrica contacted Deputy Health Minister Dr. Bernice Dahn on Tuesday, she said she could not talk because she was busy collecting bodies and trying to place sick people on beds.
Losing Ebola Fight
It seems at the high level the government is losing its wits on how to deal with the deadly virus that has claimed 129 lives including that of a government official. Sources say it is obvious that the Government is playing catch-up with measures to curb the deadly virus in a meeting held recently.
At the second meeting of the national task force set up by President Sirleaf in which she was present, the government did not seem to have a set plan and there was a lot of talking about decisions.
At the meeting attended by many dignitaries including the US ambassador Deborah Malac, the head of the United Nations in Liberia Karen Langren, ministers and other prominent members of society, it was clear that the only reason the president is acting now is because foreigners are dying from the deadly virus.
According to sources, Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Bernice Dahn at the meeting said the Ebola treatment center in ELWA hospital in Monrovia is overcrowded as there are 25 Ebola patients at the center, which is created for 18 persons and it included the two American doctors. The center is the only Ebola treatment facility in the center in Monrovia and the community is resisting the expansion of the unit.
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