The Editor,
“My mehn, I did my Covid-19 test two weeks ago, and I have yet to get my result. I need the result to enable me to return to work as a driver”.
These were the sorrowful sentiments being relayed by a gentleman to a friend, I guess, at the other end of the phone line on that Thursday, May 21, 2020 when I encountered him and a another friend who were walking away from the testing center disappointingly, while I too was approaching the Incidence Management System (IMS) Center at the back of the S .K. D Sporting Complex to do a voluntary testing so as to establish my status. The decision to do a voluntary test was reached on Monday, May 18, 2020 with no family member being in the know, including even my wife. I broke the news to her after I had done my test.
At the main entrance of the S.K.D Sports Complex, I was directed by the security to a blue and white building at the back of the Complex. Just as I was approaching the center, a female staff at the center shouted cautioning me, “papay, do not reach here without a face mask” I immediately stopped. She continued, “This place (Testing Center) is infested “. I said to her “I am wearing a face mask (face shield really I was wearing).She responded, “face mask and not face shield is the required personal protective equipment (PPE) I am referencing”.
I then stood for a while and began calculating what I needed to do. I decided I was going back outside the complex fence to procure a face mask, since I was determined to do my test. On my left side of the walkway leading to the testing center was and still a makeshift tent built out of a blue tarpaulin for waiting purpose and instructions before entering the main building. The waiting place, though fitted with plastic chairs, is muddy and really should not be in that condition, because those who sit there before being ushered into the screening section are responsible and need to be treated with respect.
As a blessing, the same female staff shouted to me, “wait for me and I will bring a face mask for you”. It took the staff about ten minutes to reach me with the promised mask, though it got to me anyway. A female and two gentlemen were waiting under the blue tent and together they and I were called into the screening room of the center. Screening was carried out on three of us while the fourth, a young man, was turned away because he did not have a contact number (mobile number), I guess that would be used to call you for your result when it is finally processed.
In the testing room, a gentleman attired in his PPEs from head to toes approached me and said, “I am David and I am the one to do your test, but please bear with me because you will experience some discomfort” I then asked him the duration it takes for one to get his/her result. He replied, “Twenty-four hours maximum”. Up to this publication however, I have not gotten my test result which was done on Thursday, May 21, 2020. I have called repeatedly 4455 on four occasions, but a white female voice is always heard telling me something confusing when I expect to be told that my result is readied and that I can come over to pick it up. That was my understanding from David, the Laboratory Technician.
Since May 21, 2020, few senior Government officials have been tested after me and results released as per newspapers publications. The recent conflicting result of Dr. Alaric Tokpah raises concern about accuracy, trust and sincerity at the center. One test says he is negative and another says he is positive and therefore and therefore has been placed in a state of confusion. If one considers the high level of denial by Liberians, than the Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) need not only conduct tests, but should release results in a timely manner for citizens to build confidence in the process. People are no longer wearing the face masks to cover their noses and mouths, but are wearing them as necklace and chin masks. A fortnight ago, the two health institutions (MOH & NPHIL) issued a statement threatening to carry out compulsory testing. I then posted on my Facebook page that they were only trying to impress the President, Dr. George Manneh Weah, that they are working, since compulsory testing is a joke, if you consider the process that David, the guy at the center, took me through on May 21, 2020, then it is safe to say the process cannot be done forcefully.
Combating Covid-19 requires all hands being on deck and not someone wanting to be in the business of smearing the professional characters of others to score a point. The reckless statement made by the Honorable Minister of Health, “that nurses and other health practitioners are in denial and reckless as reasons amongst others why they are falling victims to the pandemic” is the worst statement any well-meaning professional should be making about fellow professional front liners. The Honorable Minister, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah deserves the barrage of condemnations coming from the Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC) and other professional groups. She needs to show interest in safe guiding the lives of foot soldiers who are physically presenting themselves daily at health centers trying to save fellow compatriots hate by the virus. Let Dr. Jallah supply the PPEs and other essentials to the nurses, Physician Assistants (PAs) and other health workers to enable them fight the virus and, that she and Dr. Mosoka Fallah of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) need to settle their differences so that Liberians are not snatched away from this life because of the battle between the pairs for ownership of the Covid-19 project.
I believe the apology extended by Dr. Jallah to the aggrieved nurses and other health practitioners was done because she does not have the evidence of the state of denial and carelessness allegedly exhibited by health workers to have smeared their characters, particularly nurses. As a professional Medical Doctor, I suggest she should be mindful in the future when making public statements about others as the late Lucky Dube said in his music, “If you don’t have anything positive to say about somebody, shout up”, Dr. Jallah and just do your work quietly, for the nurses you are demeaning are the ones that promote you daily by the work they do. Are you aware of how some of them get to the clinics each day and back to their respective homes? Thank about it!!
God bless Liberia as she faces the deadly virus head-on.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel B. Tipayson