By Mohaned Vandi in Kenema
More than 100 nurses of the Government Hospital in Kenema Monday downed their tools and deserted the hospital after a heated general meeting.
It came a day after three of their colleagues died of Ebola, the largest single recorded number of deaths of health workers since the outbreak in May.
The workers complained of poor management of the Ebola Centre, which they claimed was a major factor for the deaths of several of their colleagues. They gathered at the hospital in the early hours of the morning weeping when news broke that a popular nursing sister, Mbalu Fonnie and two others had died.
At a well-attended meeting of the nurses and stakeholders at the hospital, the Chairman of the Health Workers' Union who spoke on behalf of the nurses said the deaths of their colleagues at the centre were alarming and had sent fear in them.
He said they wanted the immediate relocation of the Ebola centre out of the hospital, improvement on the management condition and services of the centre. Crucially, the striking nurses said in the meeting, the takeover of the Ebola wards by Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF) "since the government is incapable of running them".
National Coordinator, Health For all Coalition Charles Mambu said the demands of the nurses needed no time wasting.
Meeting with the striking nurses yesterday, Mambu said nurses in Kenema had died more than in anywhere else, demanding an investigation for such an "unfortunate development".
"You have to be protected before you go to work; no compromise about that" Mambu said, adding there must be "no alternative but to relocate the Ebola Centre as quickly as possible". He pleaded with the nurses to stop treating patients at home and always do referral to the hospital.
The District Medical Officer, Dr. Mohamed Vandi said the nurses' demands were not surprising to him and that he had communicated them to the Chief Medical Officer and MSF in Freetown whom he said were due in Kenema on Tuesday.
He said 50 medical personnel were expected from the UK to help in the Ebola fight in Kenema.
Dr Vandi assured the nurses that their demands would be met but was cautious saying it would not happen as immediately as demanded as they were expected to be discussed at Tuesday's Task Force meeting.
The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Brima Kargbo said he had written to MSF Belgium in Kailahun "and they have agreed that a team will leave Kailahun to Kenema to evaluate the treatment centre" to advise them on the Ebola wards needed to be improved or relocated elsewhere.
Chairman Kenema District Council, Dr. Senesi Mansaray said the treatment centre could not be immediately relocated as demanded by the nurses as it needed time for planning. He said the deaths of nurses was "frightening" and that such incident was unprecedented. He said they were still finding it difficult to understand why the rise in the number of deaths among health workers.
An expatriate Medical practitioner, Hauston Demby expressed regret for the lost of Nurse Mbalu describing her as "the most hardworking nurse who had always inspired other nurses to hard work and with commitment".
Meanwhile the hospital is virtually empty as most of the patients in the other wards have been moved by their relatives for fear of contracting the virus.
(C) Politico 22/07/14
