Monrovia - Sam Bropleh, an ambulance driver of the ‘First Responders’ belonging to one of Liberia’s politicians Rep. Saah Joseph, who has been helping in the fight against the deadly Ebola Virus, has brought a suspected Ebola case into a center managed by the medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), but the facility is overwhelmed and there is no space to take in more patients.

MSF Ebola Capacity is Overstretched, Says 1,000 Beds Needed

MSF Ebola Capacity is Overstretched, Says 1,000 Beds Needed

Construction at Island Clinic - one of five Ebola centers with 100 beds opening soon in Monrovia/ Photo/ WHO/M. Seeger

MSF Ebola Capacity is Overstretched, Says 1,000 Beds Needed

The MSF facilities are more equipped than the ELWA2 treatment center

Dr. Brown and team have successfully cured 50 patients from deadly Ebola virus

MSF Ebola Capacity is Overstretched, Says 1,000 Beds Needed

Bropleh and his colleagues try to convince the MSF team of three men standing behind a wired gate, but they maintain there is no more space, as the 160-bed center ELWA3 is full. About eight more sick people are lying on the ground in front of the gate including a boy about eight years old, as they are too weak to stand as those who have conveyed them in vehicles stand watching in total disgust.

“I brought a patient here and now the patient is on the ambulance we are waiting for the team to come and get the patient out,” Bropleh said after he was referred to the other holding facility run by Liberian doctors, ELWA2.

“I first took the patient to ELWA3 and the white guy told me that there is no space. If the doctor says no space, it means there is no space. I think you could see all of those people lying on the ground in front of the fence; there were more than eight persons; they’re lying in front of the gate, they can’t enter. The people are saying there is no space. So tell me, what are we heading for?”

Bropleh says the government needs to open up new facilities, as the situation of sick people with the deadly Ebola virus is dire. He said the situation is such that every day, they tussle from one center to the other just to find a space for the patients. “I’m appealing to the government of Liberia to at least open new centers where our people can be taken for treatment because look at what is going on now,” he said.

At least if we can get up to 12 to 15 centers I think the spread of this virus will reduce. This virus is destroying our people on a daily basis. I pick up between 31 to 32 cases in a week.” MSF says it Ebola case management center in Monrovia, which has been open since Monday 18 August 2014 and has cared for 378 patients since that time is full and can take no more, unless there is an expansion.

“We currently have 160 beds, and our team is trying to expand as fast as we can but the number of patients who are coming to see us is overwhelming,” said the organization which has been a relief to the patients since its opening.

MSF says in the coming week it will have enough beds to care for 200 people, and hopes to have enough room for 400, but stresses that even then it will not be large enough to care for every Ebola patient. The organization estimates that it needs 1000 beds for Ebola patients in Monrovia alone, but there are currently only 240 places.

“As a medical humanitarian organization, we are committed to providing medical care to people that need it. The last thing that we want to do is turn people away, yet we have had to in Monrovia because we cannot grow our center faster without conditions inside becoming dangerous for our staff,” states MSF.

“Our teams will be admitting patients whenever we can - just yesterday we admitted 37. In the meantime, we are providing people whom we do not have space for with home disinfection kits, to assist them to care for their loved ones more safely.”

The organization states that plans are in place for other organizations to start providing Ebola care services but it is worried that it is taking too much time, as Ebola patients in Monrovia need access to treatment now. “Four months, MSF has been warning that we need other organizations to come to West Africa to join the fight to get the Ebola outbreak under control,” states MSF.

Last week, MSF’ international president Dr. Joanne Liu in her address at the UN urged governments across the world to send in their specialist teams. Dr. Liu warned that extra support was needed because MSF could not work fast enough to keep up with the demand for beds in its Ebola management centers. “In West Africa, cases and deaths continue to surge. Riots are breaking out. Isolation centers are overwhelmed,” she says.

Continues Ms Liu: “Health workers on the front lines are becoming infected and are dying in shocking numbers. Others have fled in fear, leaving people without care for even the most common illnesses. Entire health systems have crumbled. Ebola treatment centers are reduced in places where people go to die alone, were little more than palliative care is offered. It is impossible to keep up with the sheer number of infected people pouring into facilities. In Sierra Leone, infectious bodies are rotting in the streets.”

The organization which has 1,904 people working across West Africa trying to bring the Ebola outbreak under control, including more than 1,030 people in Liberia says it is also working in communities across Monrovia, where over 400 MSF trained community health workers are going from door to door to tell people about Ebola and teach them how best to protect themselves.MSF says it has so far discharged 35 recovered patients from its center at ELWA 3.

“We hope to see more people recover in the coming months, while we all work together to prevent the flow of new infections,” states MSF in a release issued to FrontPageAfrica over the weekend.

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC returned a staff member from West Africa by charter flight after the employee had low-risk contact with an international health worker who recently tested positive for Ebola. The CDC says its staff member is not sick and does not show symptoms of Ebola. Friends, family, co-workers, and the public are not at risk of getting Ebola from this person.