A major concern for health workers in Liberia’s capital Monrovia is that a shortage of ambulances is causing Ebola sufferers to die at home, potentially risking their communities with further contagion. As at least 1,830 people are believed to already have died from the disease across the country, and the crew of one private ambulance in Monrovia face a daily uphill struggle collecting Ebola sufferers and taking them to hospital for treatment. They deal with equipment shortages and patients unwilling to go to hospital.
The “Response 2” ambulance comes on shift shortly after 10am local time, its crew hitting the road for another tough day collecting Ebola sufferers. The head of the crew, Gordon Kamara, heads inside to get their bi-weekly ration. One of the cases of Ebola of the day is Mr. Kollis, on the eastern margins of Monrovia. His family put in the call for the ambulance, but now they seem to be having a change of heart about sending him to a treatment centre. Kamara tries his best to convince the man, but fumes at the waste of time. He has no choice but to leave without him. “I don’t have a police,” he says. “I don’t have authority to force him to get him out of here.”
In the next destination, Freeman Reserve, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) outside the capital they find that 42-year old Jeremiah Dolo has worsening Ebola symptoms. 26-year old Marie Nyan’s own mother died from Ebola, now she and her seriously ill 2-year old son Nathaniel Edward are escorted to the ambulance. 84-year old Yarkpawoto Paye is a great grandfather to a nine-year old girl, who already has three members of her family sick with Ebola. A race back through the countryside and the patients are dropped off at a treatment centre, where they will get round-the-clock care. Kamara wishes the patients well, saying he prays that “they will be successful while they are undergoing their treatment.”
No Comment | euronews: watch the international news without commentary | http://www.euronews.net/nocomment/