HOW EBOLA HAS EXPOSED OUR SICK HEALTH SYSTEM

A patient being carried by health officials for burial (thewestsidestory.net)

West Africa has caught the attention of the world as we all battle the Ebola viral disease. The disease has been spreading at an alarming rate far beyond the imagination of all. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 70% of infected people die from the disease when they contract this viral disease. So far the WHO has explained that the disease takes 21 days to incubate, which means people placed under quarantine can be determined safe to be released after 21 days. The diseases have claimed the life of over 3000 people since the outbreak in West Africa earlier this year.  Liberia has been hardly hit with 150 people reported dead in just two days according to WHO figures last Friday.

The disease according to the WHO is spreading at alarming rates due to the fact that most health facilities are inadequately prepared to screen and offer help to victims. This has exposed a lot of health workers to the disease with over 300 health workers reported to have contracted the disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three most affected countries. Nearly half of them died from the disease. Access to necessary health-care supplies and equipment’s has being attributed partly to suspension of flights in and out of Ebola affected countries. In light of this phenomenon at an emergency meeting of the African Union (AU) on 8 September, regional travel hub, Senegal were ready to open a humanitarian corridor to affected countries. A terminal has being set up in Senegal purposely for receiving humanitarian flights where health workers will be thoroughly screened. Similarly in Accra, Ghana a special UN mission to fight Ebola will be headquartered.

The CDC have warned that if proper measures are not put in place to address this current situation in West Africa, reported cases could surge to 21,000 in Liberia and Sierra Leone by September 30 and an alarming rate of 1.4 million by late January, next year. Canada has promised to donate $2.5M for protective equipment in light of this. However 1000 doses of an experimental drugs developed by Canada is yet to leave their shore six weeks after it was promised. This has being attributed to the fact that, the vaccines needs to be shipped under certain conditions if it is to work upon arrival. Also there are questions about where to ship them as a facility to receive them in West Africa is unavailable.

News from Liberia shows that less than an hour ago (8:00 PM Ghana Local time, 27 September), their Chief Medical Officer, Bernice Dahn has placed herself and staff under quarantine after one of her assistant contracted and died from the disease. She has being representing her country at international Ebola conferences. According to the BBC, Liberia has just 51 doctors to serve the country’s 4.2 million people. Hospital beds have being on shortage in Liberia since the outbreak.

Dr. Gobee Logan. (image courtesy of newsnextbd.com)

The unavailability of a proven vaccine is really frustrating for health workers. In Liberia a doctor in the rural area resorted to treating his Ebola patients with HIV drugs, claims that mortality rate in his hospital has dropped to just 7%. Doctor Gobee Logan told CNN that, he had to try this in a bid to save his patients. So far only two out of 15 patients that received the HIV drug treatment have died. 

In areas where there is yet to be a confirmed cases of Ebola, health officials have being put at great risk when trying to confirm cases. In Ghana for instance reports by Joy Fm shows that a health facility at Dominase, a suburb of its second capital Kumasi had the doctor at post improvising when a suspected case of Ebola was reported at his facility. They had no access to protective clothing.

Symptoms of the disease include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage. The viral disease spread mainly through bodily fluids such as blood and saliva. Since there have being no proven vaccine or cure, supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhea and vomiting can help recovery. Health workers believe that fruit bat is the natural host for the virus. The WHO and other health authorities in West Africa has advocated for people to stay away from consuming fruit bat and other forms of bush meat since the outbreak