Sierra Leone, Kenema - The second Ebola treatment
centre to be built from scratch in Sierra Leone is set to admit its
first wave of patients this weekend.
The white-tented site stands in lush greenery off a main highway a
few kilometres outside the Ebola-ravaged eastern city of Kenema, about
six hours' drive from the capital Freetown.
It has been built by the International Federation of the Red Cross
(IFRC) in their first attempt so far to run an Ebola treatment facility.
Ebola has killed 436 people in Sierra Leone, with 1,341 confirmed
cases overall, according to the Ministry of Health's latest figures. The
true numbers are unknown but likely far higher.
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| Infographic: Just how deadly is Ebola? |
The IFRC hospital will hold 60 patients at full capacity and was
built from nothing in three weeks, aiming to take new Ebola cases from
the surrounding district.
It will also relieve pressure on the now infamous Kenema government
hospital where remaining staff continue to treat patients in the same
wards where up to 30 doctors and nurses have been infected and died
since the start of the outbreak.
"Usually with a Red Cross field hospital we could open today, but we
have had to wait for final building materials to arrive because once you
admit the first patient, a construction worker can't go back in and add
parts," Steve McAndrew, head of emergency operations for IFRC Sierra
Leone, told Al Jazeera in the capital Freetown.
Lack of medical staff
The team is ready, according to Tiina Saarikoski, manager of the new
Kenema Ebola treatment centre (ETC), the day before the proposed
opening. "This hospital wouldn't be open if I wasn't 100 percent sure.
We will not take risks."
But they are only prepared for an initial admission of 40 patients and it will not be an easy start.
"We are still waiting for more PPE (Personal protective equipment for
staff) due to arrive by truck today. We have 600 on site and I have
requested another 2,000 sets," Saarikoski said.
Staff at a treatment facility like this may use and destroy up to 200 sets of PPE per day.
There is also a crippling shortage of people willing and capable to
work in these conditions. "The IFRC hospital hired and trained 35
national nurses for the site but 15 have since decided they do not want
the job.
"They are afraid," said Thomas Abu, caretaker manager for the local
Sierra Leone Red Cross Society at his current base in Kenema town.
Three of the nurses recruited from Freetown are staying in the Kenema
Red Cross guesthouse. It is their first time there and their first time
working on Ebola.
Aisatu Turay, 27, said the reason they were in the guesthouse was
because people in the town were still unwilling to host Ebola workers.
"We are here to save lives," she told Al Jazeera. "We are not afraid, it is our duty and we want to work."
Despite the fear and stigmatisation, International Red Cross staff
who recruited their local colleagues in advance of the opening have been
struck by people's need to rally for their brothers and sisters to beat
this disease.
We need more beds and there are still not enough treatment facilities to cope with the patient-load.
Tiina Saarikoski, manager of the Kenema Ebola treatment centre
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"You have to be brave to choose this sort of mission," Lauralee Morris, senior medical officer at the site, said.
Morris volunteered for the Ebola project from Canada and has trained
the nurses and hygienists who will be working alongside her while
learning the ropes first time herself.
"It is important to provide a safe place for patients where they
won't infect their families but can be cared for in a nice environment."
This treatment facility is modelled on Sierra Leone's original
treatment centre, built by Médecins Sans Frontières in June in the
remote epidemic epicentre of Kailahun.
Patients were being driven 12 hours from Freetown to the MSF centre
but Kenema's opening and a third site under construction in nearby Bo
are intended to alleviate the strain.
The Kenema centre hopes to have improved the hospital water
distribution system such that it flows round this site more efficiently
and has also added special "vomit tanks" which the MSF centre does not
have.
That these crisis response teams are breaking new boundaries with Ebola cannot be underestimated.
"It's a massive operation. This has never happened before on this scale, there is no handbook for this," Steve McAndrew said.
Sierra Leone's new Ebola hospitals are preparing to treat people at
full capacity for six to nine months at least, but nobody knows where
this epidemic is going.
Despite a positive, ready-for-action attitude from on-site personnel,
resources are still critically lacking and generally insufficient to
cope with an ever-increasing number of Ebola infections.
"We need more beds and there are still not enough treatment facilities to cope with the patient-load," said Saarikoski.
Sierra Leone's Red Cross Ebola team has so far received 20 percent of
the funding it asked for having increased its appeal from $6m in July
to $32m now.
Ebola checkpoints
Nevertheless Sierra Leone finally appears to be getting to grips with its Ebola response.
Checkpoints along the main highways have increased tenfold and
military officials have become stricter, demanding newly introduced
Special Ebola Response passes issued for cross-country travellers by the
Health Ministry.
Every checkpoint is manned by volunteer health workers using temperature guns to test for those travelling with a fever.
Most checkpoint health operators told Al Jazeera they had only
recorded one or two individuals with worrisome fevers in the last two
weeks.
However, it is hard to keep track with equipment breaking, being
lost, and general uncertainty about its efficiency in detecting
potential Ebola cases.
"Usually when somebody comes with a fever of 37 degrees they panic," one young volunteer said.
"We calm them, talk to them, wait for a while then test again. If the
temperature is the same we call the medical officer for help."
There are also complaints from local coordinators about "medical
staff at Ebola checkpoints not devoted to their jobs" and power
struggles between officials from different localities deployed to
monitor travellers.
However, government restrictions do not seem to be hindering the
movement of what people and supplies there are in transit for Sierra
Leone's Ebola crisis response.
"We have free passes to move and the local and national authorities
have been very supportive and accommodating. They are actively
encouraging us," Tiina Saarikoski said.
Providing she receives her shipment of PPE from Freetown, Saarikoski
plans to open the centre on Friday afternoon with an admission of four
patients.
"I hope that when we open it is controlled," she said, "we are not
ready to take 60 patients immediately. That would create chaos."
The site only has enough staff and equipment to cope with up to 40 at
present, with an increased capacity dependent on continued delivery of
supplies and the recruitment and training of more local and
international workers.
AL JAZEERA. |
