By Crispina Cummings
Minister of health, Miatta Kargbo, has told parliament that the government is sad about and regrets the loss of lives to the deadly Ebola virus in the country.
While giving an update on the status of the hemorrhagic fever which broke out last month and has killed at least 20 people in the eastern provincial district of Kailahun, the minister sympathised with the bereaved families left behind by Ebola.
“Government, through the ministry of health, is putting everything required to fight the virus in Kailahun district and other parts of the country”, she said, and told MPs that since the outbreak they had increased surveillance and other related health facilities in the districts.
Minister Kargbo also emphasised that government efforts to eradicate the virus, including public sensitisation before and during the outbreak, were to ensure that it didn’t affect too many people.
She said they were on top of the situation but would continue to penetrate no-go areas so that the virus would not escalate based on misinformation and misconception among people in the district.
She expressed disappointment at the way certain community people in some parts of Kailahun district had prevented health workers, including the French medico charity, MSF, from accessing those places where the virus was first reported.
She confirmed that the UN World Health Organisation had provided them with the sum of US$ 20,000 to fight the virus and thanked other international and local partners for their contributions in saving most people lives.
Chairman of the parliamentary oversight committee on health and sanitation, Mabinty Forna lauded the efforts of government so far and said the disease was a national concern. She said she was concerned about certain statements alleged to have been made by the minister when the virus was first reported which appeared to suggest that she had blamed the deaths of the early victims on the deceased.
(C) Politico 19/06/14
