INTERVIEW: Journalist Released From COVID-19 Treatment Center ‘Stranded’, Recounts Stay at 14 Military Hospital
Monrovia – Jeremiah Gayflor, the Liberian journalist who was reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 in Nimba County, has been released by health authorities. But in an exclusive telephone interview with FrontPageAfrica on Friday, Gayflor made some staggering revelations including claims that he has been taken at a guest house instead of his home in Tappita, Nimba County.
In this interview, Gayflor talked about his stay at the 14 Military hospital, how he was later tested negative and the trauma he’s enduring while away from his family.
FrontPage Africa: What has happened since they released you from the treatment center?
Jeremiah Gayflor: What happening is that they released me and told me to go home but what’s really happening is that I don’t have the transportation to go from here to Tappita, Nimba County and the transportation is somewhere around L$8000. So, I told them: ‘how do I get home? And they said they were going to hang head but since yesterday they have being on it [hanging head] until they just came and put me on a bus and they said they carrying me to the guest house and they brought me to a guest house called Bless One – it’s on the Schieffelin Highway.
And I also asked the guy at the guest house: ‘how long will I be here’ and he said 14 days and I said no, I was already told to go home but I do not have any car pay. So, this is what they are saying – they only dropped me and went by their business. I’m still here, no food, no concern and what have you.
FPA: How long you’ve been there?
Gayflor: I have been here for over one hour. They only brought me and they left.
FPA: Did they tell you that you were going to spend 14 days at the guest house before going to Tappita?
Gayflor: They never told me anything; they only dropped me and went by their business and they guy received me and carried me upstairs.
And I also asked the guy at the guest house: ‘how long will I be here’ and he said 14 days and I said no, I was already told to go home but I do not have any car pay. So, this is what they are saying – they only dropped me and went by their business. I’m still here, no food, no concern and what have you.
FPA: How long did you stay at the 14 Military Hospital?
Gayflor: I spent 14 days there and two different tests [were conducted] and all were negative and then I was discharged to go back to Nimba County but I don’t have the car pay to go back Nimba County. So, it’s like when I told them that’s why they brought me here. I don’t know how long will I be here for, the next step, what to be done or not, nothing has been done.
FPA: Tell me about what transpired before you were taken to the 14 Military Hospital?
Gayflor: What really happened is that I went on my farm for food and I spent two days on my farm and as you may be aware in the forest you don’t expect to have hand pump, so I drank from a creek for two good days and the food I also ate could not agree with my stomach.
So, when I came back to Tappita, I came down with cholera and then I became to treat myself but the drugs overpowered me because I was not eating – I was vomiting and toileting. So, I called for the ambulance and went to the hospital. After three days I was discharged and went home. Two days later, I was called back to the hospital and then they told me there that I was Covid-19 positive and this is how they brought me here [14 Military Hospital].
They had released me from the hospital, I went home to my family and we spent time together and after two days, they called me and told me I was positive.
FPA: What did they do to your family? Did they quarantine them?
Gayflor: My family is currently under quarantine but my wife has proven negative as well.
FPA: How’s the situation for them back in Tappita?
Gayflor: There’s challenge but the community is concerned – community people are showing concern for them…
FPA: How was the treatment there at the 14 Military Hospital? Is the condition there OK?
Gayflor: When I went there they said there’s a drug called Selenium. It is meant to fight the virus or it is there to build the immune system – so, this is what they were dividing on the patients but when I went, they said it is finished and then they asked me to provide my own drugs so I began to make phone calls around and then my former manager form Radio Peace in Harbel, Voice of Firestone and other guys from Truth Fm – they all intervened and I was able to get the drugs.
But the drugs just came yesterday and I never took the drugs until I was diagnosed negative because the drugs came yesterday morning.
FPA: For the 14 days you spent at the 14 Military Hospital, were you ever treated with any sort of medicine?
Gayflor: They never gave me drugs; they said there is no treatment for coronavirus. They only said they could only give me drugs if I complained about any parts of my body and because I was not complaining they were not giving me drugs.
FPA: And you were not being treated for any other symptoms – like the way we understand that people can be treated for symptoms like fever, symptoms like fever and flu. They never gave you treatment for anything?
Gayflor: Like I said, they said they could only treat me if I had complained. For example, if I had said I get fever, they would have given me fever medicine. If I had said I have cold, they would have given me cold medicine… that’s how they said they were going to be treating me but for the 14 days I spent there, I never complained about any part of my body.
They never gave me drugs; they said there is no treatment for coronavirus. They only said they could only give me drugs if I complained about any parts of my body and because I was not complaining they were not giving me drugs.
FPA: Yet they said you were positive before they took you there?
Gayflor: Yes, and I said it was not possible. I asked even though you said I’m positive why I’m not sick; why I’m not showing signs or symptoms? And they said it’s ‘in your system’…
FPA: What did they Tell you when you were being taken to the guest house?
Gayflor: They only said, since you don’t have place to be in Monrovia until you go back Nimba, we are carrying you somewhere – and then they brought me here. They did not tell me I will be here for two days, for one day or for 14 days. But when I arrived at the guest house, the guy who received me said I’m here for the next 14 days. And I said ‘no! I’m not positive, I’m only in a transit’ and he said ‘that’s it’.
FPA: Let’s agree you are going to stay there for 14 days, what are your fears?
Gayflor: I have fear because since this morning I only had breakfast I have not eaten anything and since I came in the guest house, I’m not seeing any signs of food, no water – I checked in the bathroom, no water, I checked in the kitchen no food… I don’t know if I’m here as a guest or here as a patient. I’m just kept in suspense.
FPA: Have you tried contacting the health authorities so far?
Gayflor: I was able to have gotten one of the counselors numbers yesterday, when I asked him ‘how do I get back to Nimba County since I have been tested negative’, he said ‘give me your number’. After few hours, he called me and said people are working to see how best you can get to Nimba …
FPA: If they agree that you need to stay at the guest house for 14 more days, what will you do?
Gayflor: It’s not possible because they tested me on two different occasions… and if I’m negative, I will be allowed to go home and I patiently waited until the two tests were done and they said I’m freed, then they brought me here at this guest house and want me to stay here for another 14 days – that is not possible.
You cannot treat me like this! I have family that depends on me and want to see me – I need to feed them on a daily basis… when I was coming to Monrovia, my wife was also carried to hospital, where she was admitted – she has been sick for the past four to five years. Even this morning when I called my wife, she said she is not improving, so all these things I playing on me.
FPA: Finally, what do you want to say to the government, the health authorities?
Gayflor: My call now is that since they say I’m free, I can go home and if they cannot afford to pay my way to go back home, let them tell me that they don’t have money so I can find means to go home, than to just put me somewhere that I will just be in dilemma – no information – [I’m just] like a vagabond… it will be playing on me because I do not trust where I am…
You cannot treat me like this! I have family that depends on me and want to see me – I need to feed them on a daily basis… when I was coming to Monrovia, my wife was also carried to hospital, where she was admitted
Meanwhile, when FPA contacted authorities at the Ministry of Heath to respond to the allegations by Journalist Gayflor there were no responses to the numerous telephone calls.
Editor’s note: Some of the spoken sentences were rewritten to better explain what the interviewee said.