Monrovia – The deadly Ebola virus entered Liberia in March 2014 barely two few months after the disease had surfaced in Guinea in no time the three neighboring West African countries—Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia were devastated.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian – [email protected]
Statistics shows that 10, 885 persons were infected 4,841 people died. A total of 378 health workers were affected while 192 of them died of the deadly disease.
But in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis, Assistant Health Minister for Curative Services Catherine Cooper has alluded that the Ebola had a dramatic effect on the country because at the time of the disease outbreak fear loomed among health workers and that they were forced to flee from health facilities across the country.
“Other diseases were affected due to the closure of health centers and the abandonment by health workers at health facilities,” said Cooper who also claimed that the epidemic caused labor shortage in the health sector.
Assistant Health Minister Cooper expressed thanks to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for providing assistance to protect healthcare workers to fight the epidemic.
According to Assistant Minister Cooper, the Ebola syndrome was common to other diseases like malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) making it to be even more deadly.
She made the revelation when she testified at the Civil Law Court Tuesday on behalf of the Administration of the John F. Kennedy Hospital where the hospital has been sued by Montserrado County District #16 Edward Forh for the death of his daughter Nakita Forh.
The late Nakita, who has reportedly suffered breathing complications, was taken to the JFK Hospital on September 27, 2014 during the Ebola crisis but her father, Representative Forh, claims that she was refused by doctors, causing her to die on the hospital compound on September 28, 2014.
Representative Forh also claimed that his daughter was told to present Ebola clearance when his daughter did not have Ebola.
“My daughter was refused on ground that she had Ebola, which she did not, but when she died her body was turned over to the family for burial,” said Representative Forh, whose lawsuit for damages for wrongful death is worth US$25million.
Reacting to the lawsuit, the administration of the John F. Kennedy said it was a policy of the JFK during the Ebola crisis that patients presented Ebola clearance before being admitted.
But testifying as defense’s eighth witnesses at the Temple of Justice Tuesday, Assistant Minister Cooper said that at the time of the Ebola crisis the Ministry of Health organized a policy where community and health workers could protect themselves.
The trial continues Wednesday at the Civil Law Court.