Kambia District Health Management Team Urged To Sustain Ebola Fight By Hassan Bruz Northern Bureau Chief The Kambia District Health Management Team has been encouraged to up keep the fight against the spread of the Ebola Virus. This was the conclusion of the statement of the Resident Minister of the Northern Province- Hon. Alie D Kamara. He was on an assessment visit to the District with regards the prevalence of the dreadful Ebola Disease. He used the opportunity to stress the need for the People of Kambia to remain vigilant in ensuring that their enviable record of zero tolerance in the Ebola fight is maintained. The Minister based his statement upon the realisation that the District only had one recorded confirmed case of Ebola since its outbreak in the Country several months ago. The Minister in his address to Stakeholders at the weekly Taskforce meeting on Ebola , expressed thanks and appreciation for up keeping the fight in spite of all the adds. He noted that Kambia is the Boarder District with over 679 bypass routes to and from the Republic of Guinea where the disease emanated to Sierra Leone. He spoke of the escalating figure in the sister Districts of Port Loko and Bombali, adding that most towns and villages in the District would have been ravaged by the disease and positioned it with the highest number of deaths or infected persons if it were not for the relentless efforts of the District Health Management Team. The Minister spoke of the immense setback the Disease has brought to the developmental agenda of the entire Nation and its potential to wreck more havoc if Sierra Leoneans do not join hands in the fight. He said the fight should be disassociated from Politics but for all to complement the efforts of Government and make it a winnable war. While encouraging them to remain much more determined in ensuring that the figure does not go beyond the only recorded confirmed case, the Minister informed them about the desperation of His Excellency – President Ernest Koroma to have this Ebola thing nabbed in the bud. He said the Government has therefore factored some money for the fight against Disease to the various Districts including Kambia itself. The Minister said this is an emergency situation and it would be time wasting to go through the usual protocols accessing money from the Government coffers which was why he had cause to instruct the District Medical Officer to go ahead with the disbursement of money so as to enable the District Health Management Team address the most urgent issues at hand. He however cautioned for the judicious utilisation of the funds and for records to be kept for any amount spent in order to enhance transparency and accountability. In his remarks, the Director of Primary Health Care –Dr. Momodu Sesay who formed part of the team deployed in the District to combat the disease, noted that the issue of sustenance is crucial and requires all the pertinent measures such as resource mobilisation. He was buttressed by the Representative of the World Health Organisation – Sherbora Kamara who said the mandate of his Organisation was to provide technical support. He however observed that the magnitude of the disease in the Country is indeed scaring. He said the death rate is more than what was being portrayed due to what he referred to as Community Deaths. He therefore stressed the need to strengthen the Thematic Groups so as to avoid a re-emergence of the disease as was the case in some countries that went through similar outbreaks. Dr. Foday Sesay is the District Medical Officer in Kambia .He viewed the visit of the Resident Minister as a special blessing to the Task Force on Ebola and the Kambia District Health Management Team as a whole. He outlined some of the modalities they had put in place to stop the spread of the virus in the District such as the ongoing sensitisation campaigns, Training programmes of Surveillance ,Contact Tracers and Burial Teams. Dr. Foday Sesay however singled out the issue of ignorance and refusal of certain categories of community members to comply to medical advices as one of the key challenges they are faced with in the District. He made a particular reference to the stiff resistance put up by the Kambia Town Community towards the establishment of an Ebola Holding Centre in the Township. The District Medical Officer went further to brief the Minister on the prevailing Traditional Treatment of diseases and how it. As endorsed by the Kambia District Council Chairman- Sheik S. A Sankoh, there has been a steady in flow of traditional health service seekers in the District. He disclosed that most of these were people are those that have been declared as Ebola Suspects, adding that it has become a major setback to the spread of the Ebola Virus. He cited the case of Tonkoh Limba Chiefdom where people often go for witch gunshot treatments and related medication. It was therefore agreed that all ‘Witch Craft Doctors’ should refrain from the practise for the mean time. The issue of the Holding Centre was also laid to rest after the Minister made a phone call to the Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Mission for the use of their former Polio Home in Kambia as a Holding Centre. The Paramount Chief of Magbema Chiefdom- Bai Farama Bubu Ngbek appealed for logistical support in sensitising is Subjects and distributing copies of the list of Bye Laws to the Towns and Villages in his Chiefdom. The Meeting which was chaired by the Kambia District Officer-Alfred Lahai, ended with an assurance that the People of Kambia will do their best to ensure the up keep of that enviable record. According to the Chief Administrator of the Kambia District Council – Konkoro Kamara , they will make sure that no one dies of Ebola in Kambia.. You can now have a look at some of the Photos at the meeting. ....
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 05:50:36 +0000
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