PONDER MY THOUGHTS BY Andrew Keili SL 2014 PERSON OF THE YEAR Ebola fighters were named Time Person of the Year 2014 by the prestigious TIME Magazine. Nancy Gibbs, writing about the justification mentioned that when the outbreak occurred, “Governments weren’t equipped to respond; the World Health Organization was in denial and snarled in red tape. First responders were accused of crying wolf, even as the danger grew. But the people in the field, the special forces of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Christian medical-relief workers of Samaritan’s Purse and many others from all over the world fought side by side with local doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers and burial teams.” The battle against Ebola, according to Gibbs was “left for month after crucial month to a ragged army of volunteers and near volunteers: doctors who wouldn’t quit even as their colleagues fell ill and died; nurses comforting patients while standing in slurries of mud, vomit and faeces; ambulance drivers facing down hostile crowds to transport passengers teeming with the virus; investigators tracing chains of infection through slums hot with disease; workers stoically zipping contagious corpses into body bags in the sun; patients meeting death in lonely isolation to protect others from infection”. In part of the citation Gibbs said, “The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand up and fight. For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defences, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are TIME’s 2014 Person of the Year.” The story is all too familiar and the stories of our own health workers in this Ebola fight are legion since the outbreak here in May. Everything else has paled into insignificance in the past few months and Ebola and its devastating effects in various spheres of national life dominate our discussions and actions. The heroism of our own medical workers who literally started fighting this fight with bare hands is all too familiar. Even before this outbreak our health facilities were breaking at the seams and hospitals in the affected areas were poorly manned. Before the outbreak 44% of medical doctors, 69% of the State Registered Nurses (SRN) and 51% of the State Enrolled Community Health Nurse (SECHN) were in the Western Area and provincial hospitals and health centres were poorly manned. The few medical workers that were there fought like valiant soldiers to contain the epidemic and many lost their lives. In September one estimate had it that in the worst case scenario, 1. 4 million people could be infected by January. Though still alarming, the figures of fewer than 20,000 with about 6,500 deaths are testament to the effort of mainly medical workers and the massive effort made by various other players. If one were to name “Sierra Leone’s 2014 Person of the Year”, it would have to be the Ebola fighters. Every other facet of life in our dear country has been atrophied and many undertakings are undergoing an existential threat. Many people have fought this Ebola fight and with such a collective effort on the part of the fighters it may be unfair to single out a subgroup amongst these fighters. However, one has to be appreciative of the herculean effort of the Doctors who are normally in short supply but whose survival rate from this disease, once contracted is significantly lower than any other grouping. They have been selfless, hard working, devoted to duty and overworked in an overburdened and under resourced health care system. A friend wrote recently on the Listserv: “Ebola would come to be known as the Doctors disease. What a tragedy in our lifetime. I am not one to live on hopes and wishes, but this one stretches the limits. I pray the Lord our souls to keep.” So apt! Dr Olu Olushayo, a member of the WHOs Ebola response team said recently of the Sierra Leone situation: Our team met heroic doctors and nurses at their wits end, exhausted burial teams and lab techs, all doing the best they could but they simply ran out of resources and were overrun with gravely ill people. A recent article mentioned that ”Even before Ebola killed hundreds of health staff, the three affected countries all had acute shortages: among every thousand people Guinea could count only 0.1 doctors, Liberia 0.014 and Sierra Leone 0.022. All rely on the aid industry to deliver basic health services. There is a pervasive lack of equipment, from ambulances through to gloves. Inadequate resources are compounded by corruption.” Dr. Penninah Iutung Amor, AIDS Healthcare Foundations Africa bureau chief, said in a statement: In a country that has fewer than 200 medical doctors in its entire public health sector, the loss of even one doctor is a loss too great. Sierra Leone has an acute shortage of doctors in the country and to lose 10 so far is an alarming phenomenon. Of twelve Doctors infected so far with the virus Dr Songu Mbriwa is the only one who has survived. Dr Willoughby is being treated. With kind permission of Dr Sylvia Blyden, I reproduce below her well documented list of the Doctors who have succumbed to the disease and lost the battle DR. SOLOMON AIAH KONOYEIMA - Died 6th December 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. THOMAS T. ROGERS - Died 5th December 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. DAUDA KOROMA - Died 5th December 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. MICHAEL KARGBO - Died 18th November 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. MARTIN MAADA SALIA - Died 17th November 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. GODFREY GEORGE - Died 3rd November 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. OLIVETTE BUCK - Died 14th September 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. SAHR J. ROGERS - Died 27th or 30th August 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. MODUPEH COLE - Died 13th August 2014 (R.I.P.) DR. SHEIKH UMAR KHAN - Died 29th July 2014 (R.I.P.) Despite these deaths their colleagues would not quit. Every life lost in this battle is important. The loss of lives however amongst our doctors and the fear instilled in their colleagues should be of great concern to us in Sierra Leone. The dearth of these valuable lifesavers even before Ebola has now been accompanied by fear amongst those practising-whether in direct Ebola related circumstances or not. Perhaps eight of the deceased Doctors were not working at treatment centres but still contracted the disease in the line of treating affected patients, unsuspecting of their precondition. They all worked tirelessly for long hours tending to the sick and their colleagues left behind continue to do the same. Meanwhile, spare a thought and pray for Dr Willoughby, who is extremely devoted to his work and has treated countless people for several decades in this country. May God grant him speedy recovery. It takes a considerably long time to train a medical doctor and many more years of study to qualify as a specialist. Many of these doctors were specialists in their respective fields. The exemplary work done by our doctors in the Hastings centre is with a much higher survival rate that other centres is certainly worthy of commendation. The time will come when we will dissect the failures that led us to this stage. As the Time article says: “For now, consider the stories of individuals who stood up to Ebola and, by doing so, raised hopes that victory is possible.” May the souls of the departed gallant soldiers rest in peace and rise in glory and may God grant those left behind the courage to continue with their good work and shield them from all harm and ill. GOOD DEED FEED I read a section of the British tabloid METRO recently with some degree of interest. It is called “Good deed feed” and contains messages sent by various people to thank others for some good deed done to them. These are normally members of the public they don’t even know but who felt compelled to assist them with some good deed. Below are some of the messages: “A big thank you to Laurin from Binkey who found my lost phone on the bus on Wednesday and quickly texted my family to let them know when and where I could collect it “ “Thank you to the woman who found my purse on a train to Manchester and handed it to the Bank.” “Thank you to Ronnie the Scottish guy for helping the guy with crutches on the floor at Moorgate on Wednesday night. Sorry the man on the floor swore at the Scottish guy.” “Thank you to the woman working in Costa at Turnpike Lane who asked if I was Ok when I was an emotional wreck. Everyone else just looked at me as if I had the plague.” “Thank you for the two policemen who pulled me over to tell me my tyre was flat and helped me change it. I couldn’t have done it without you.” My first inclination was to find out whether in fact these could happen in Sierra Leone. Why not?, I said to myself. I related the story some time ago in this column of a college student who returned my phone I had dropped by his house when he found out I was looking for it. Even though he was in apparent penury, he could not accept money from me. This may however be the exception for us. Let us endeavour to be responsible citizens. Being a responsible citizen should not be a hard thing but it should be something which occasionally requires a little effort. This is because being a responsible citizen is at its core, about being a less selfish person and putting the needs of society before your own needs. A little kindness and consideration can make your life a little nicer. The willingness to take the time and effort to be kind and considerate can brighten someone’s day and can be personally fulfilling. I would be particularly interested to know whether our policemen would help change a tyre as indicated in one of the feeds without asking for money. Just a thought! Ponder my thoughts
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:04:06 +0000
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