Monrovia – The deadly Ebola virus that ravaged the Liberian state bringing it down to its knees may have been defeated two years ago, but survivors of the menace continue to bear the scars, some of which will take eternity heal, though no medical assistance seems to be coming.
Survivors continue to complain of lack of medical attention, be it from government or others who had promised to intervene.
These Ebola survivors, some of whom were nurses, burial team members (grave digger, contact tracers and others) may have their life back, but definitely not the same lives they had prior to the EVD outbreak.
Many of them are currently faced with serious medical predicaments.
One of these serious problems is pressure rising in the eyes which affect their vision; couple with joint pains and weakness.
Henry D. Tony, an Ebola survivors and former vice President of Ebola Survivors Network noted that survivors are not getting proper medical attention.
“Although we have been living our lives the best way we can, we are not still getting needed medical attention when it comes to our health issues.
“When we go to public health facilities across the country, we get little attention and worst of all, our medication have to be prescript and we are told to purchase it.
These drugs prescript by the hospitals are very expensive one that most of the survivor cannot afford.
This situation is very bad for most of the survivor especially the kind of medical complication they have,” he said.
According to Tony, many survivors do not know yet if their Ebola side effects are only temporary or not, as doctors cannot tell them.
“We need to know the severity of our medical complication.”
“And this can only happen, when we are receiving quality medical attention. “
He added survivors need more than simply food and money, because they are suffering from trauma, deep emotional pain, and psychological support right now.
“With stigmatization decreasing, the issues of trauma and depression cannot be underestimated from among us the survivors.
Most survivors have been not received psychosocial counselling, which they need than ever before,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tony lauded PREVAIL for providing survivals with some medical support, but need to double their efforts and get involved into counselling.
Survivors like Tony and more other stories will be unearthed every week on the UNDP funded Emma Smith Reality Show that is intended to for survivors to highlights their problem so that government, policy traction and philanthropic intervention would be stimulated to address the complaints.