As the Ebola virus situation escalates in West Africa, one of the worst stricken countries, Sierra Leone, is experiencing yet another blow to its healthcare system. Health workers who are stationed in one of their state-run treatment facilities that are dealing with some of the cases of the Ebola virus disease in the Eastern part of the country.
According to Ishmael Mehemoh, chief supervisor of the Kenema clinic, "The workers decided to stop working because we have not been paid our allowances and we lack some tools." He added that the workers are also complaining of inadequate protective gear, and that the single broken stretcher that they have been using to carry both the infected patients and the corpses of the victims, has immensely magnified their risk of getting infected. Furthermore, it was also mentioned that the nurses in the hospital, as well as members of the burial team, have not been receiving their weekly wages of $50 after the government stopped paying them due to "strange resources."
In Sierra Leone, the Kenema clinic is one of two Ebola treatment centers in the country. However, the Kailahun facility was shut down, and the medical staff withdrawn, by the World Health Organization earlier this week as one of them caught the virus. As it is, the country's government is already struggling to keep up with the outbreak. In the Kenema clinic, there have already been 26 healthcare workers who have died after being infected with the Ebola virus. Perhaps the most notable is the death of physician, Dr. Sahr Rogers, who was remembered by newly appointed Health Minister Abubakarr Fofana last Saturday in a statement, "It is with a deep sense of sadness that we have lost one of our finest physicians in the line of duty at a time like this when we need a lot of them to help in our fight against Ebola."