Ebola Patients Abandoned At ELWA Hospital in Monrovia

Residents of the ELWA Community, adjacent the MSF runs Ebola treatment Center have expressed their frustration and disappointment over the mass rejection and abandonment of Ebola’s persons and other suspected of carrying the deathly virus. The Center has been open since Monday 18 August 2014 and cared for 378 patients say unless there is an expansion, it would not be able to take in more patients. “We currently have 160 beds, and our team is trying to expand as fast as we can but the number of patients who are coming to see us is overwhelming,” said the organization which has been a relief to the patients since its opening.

According to the residents, the rejected Ebola patients have to force their ways into the center in anticipation of receiving treatment but have ended up of being abandoned by the center operators on grounds that the center lack sufficient mattresses, spaces and better diets for the patients.

Our reporter who managed to enter the compound observes that some of the rejected Ebola patients, forced their ways into the center were being abandoned. The few of the abandoned ones were seemed lying on the cold grounds, while some the lucky ones at the treatment center due to lack of adequate mattresses have been forced to lie down on blanket and plastic sheets spread on the floor.

MSF says in the coming week it will have enough beds to care for 200 people, and hopes to have enough room for 400, but stresses that even then it will not be large enough to care for every Ebola patient. The organization is estimating that it needs 1000 beds for Ebola patients in Monrovia alone, but there are currently only 240 places.

But even with that, the patients are unhappy with the food, a source has said, adding that caterers have not sat down with doctors to discuss nutritional options and what food is best for the patients. Thus, the patients are unhappy. In the past week alone, several reports surfaced of suspected patients fleeing isolation centers, with at least one death recorded.

This was brought to light by recently by Kyndy Kobbah, a physician assistant who works at the C. H. Rennie Hospital, following her Ebola discharge from the facility. “I’m not the only person; there are lots of other patients. I wore PPE before and I know the heat that is in PPE. So they need upgrading of their salaries, Madam President, and they need more support in that unit. The food needs to come on time.” Even more complicated are unanswered questions regarding the poor systems in place which many agree are actually contributing to the spread of the Ebola virus.

For example, he said many are unsure why burial teams come for bodies before they have been tested? This is a key reason why some have suggested that Liberia’s numbers are inflated while Sierra Leone and Guinea’s are going down or stable. For the immediate future, relief may be in sight as construction workers wrap up completion of another Ebola treatment facility, a 100-bed center at the Island Clinic which is expected to be opened shortly.

Recently, at the ELWA 3 center managed by MSF; Steven had to wait two weeks after dropping his 8-year-old brother, Albert, off at the MSF center, only to find out later that his brother had died. “They kept the information from me for two weeks. I couldn’t go in and kept coming back to find out what had happened. And then, they finally told me. I lost my little brother.”

With very few units dedicated to Ebola treatment in the country, lack of beds and spaces remain a challenge, leaving many with few options: Forced to wait outside of centers like the ELWA facility or return home to infect more people. Outside, two ambulances sit idle with some six patients roaming around like zombies in search of a prey. One of those ambulances belongs to Saah Joseph, a maverick lawmaker in the national legislature regarded as one of a rare breed literally throwing himself into the dungeons of the virus.

There are no spaces in the facility today. Dr. Brown’s side is filled to capacity. The MSF area is also filled. Both facilities discharged patients last week, but the more they put out the success stories, the more the grim realities of a crisis that has so far killed more than 1,000 people sets in. One woman lies besides the fence of the ELWA gate, covering her head with lappa and appears to be vomiting blood. Another lays on the floor, hoping that her lucky number would come up and space would make available.

“It’s not easy in this country, hear ooh”, a passerby bemoans. Besides a newly-donated Ambulance from Ecobank, another suspected patient finds cover to ease herself. Nearby residents are in fumes. While they sleep at night, newly-arrived Ebola patients roam their porches, places of business and homes, awaiting their turn for a space at the filled-to-capacity Ebola units.

Last week, Montserrado County Senior Senator Joyce Musu Sumo Freeman alarmed that she purchased 25 stolen buckets, which were part of items donated to an institution by the Chinese Government for distribution to various communities. "The Chinese Government brought the buckets, testers to help you with lots of things but you keep selling it. I bought some myself," the Senator said.

A visitor to the unit last Friday found himself on the bad side of two worlds, he dubs, “Heaven” and “Hell”: ELWA2 run by Dr. Brown and his Liberian team and the better, more-fully equipped-side run by Medicins Sans Frontiers(MSF), on the other end of the fence.

“We don’t understand,” Betty Zarmie, a store owner laments. Sometimes when they come like that midnight while we’re sleeping, they will come here. Last night they came, they toilet here, they pee-pee here - and this place is my business center.” Next door, Ma Zara, who sells doughnuts and Kala in the area, says she too is losing business. This is my daily bread,” she says, pointing to dough she is preparing to fry. When the patients come here, all of them sleeping all here and they aren't keeping the patients where they supposed to keep the patients. So it’s spoiling my business and this is where me and my children survive from.

As Ebola rescue workers clean up feces and vomit from Betty Zarmie’s store, a nearby resident remarks: “This is clear evidence that they(suspected patients) have been here.” The grim picture of rejections outside the ELWA facility illustrates the urgency of Liberia’s menacing dilemma, that more and more treatment centers are needed.

Many are hoping that help is on the way with the announcement last Friday by the European Commission, which has pledged €140m of funding for the countries currently affected by the Ebola virus in West Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria. €38 million of the new package is specifically designed to help those governments bolster their health services (for example through reinforcing treatment centers or support for health workers), both during the crisis and in the recovery phase. It will also provide support in the areas of food security, water and sanitation, which are essential in terms of safeguarding the health of the population.

Last Thursday, the U.S. government announced a donation of US$75 million to fund 1,000 more beds in Ebola treatment centers in Liberia and buy 130,000 more protective suits for health care workers. The $75 million comes in addition to about $20 million the agency has already donated to fight the outbreak that was first identified in March in Guinea, and has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The killer virus is spread through bodily fluids such as blood, sweat, urine or diarrhea.

The Government of Italy has also joined the efforts through several assistance packages to include the dispatching of a mobile laboratory team, additional dispatching of homeopathic Ebola treatment drugs and food.

The United Nations has also announced that it is establishing an Ebola Crisis Centre with the goal of stopping transmission in affected countries within six to nine months. More centers, more beds will no doubt ease some of the sad stories of this crisis, but urgency is key for many lingering on the doorsteps of death and rejected due to the lack of space.

Inside the ELWA2 facility run by Dr. Brown and a small team that includes two doctors, two nurses and two physician assistants, there are no computers or laptops; the doctor uses his own personal laptop to process data.

Data entry was done manually here and despite the arrival of scores of supplies and tons of medical gears in the past weeks, the facility is short on everything, relying on donations just to stay afloat. The facility does not have its own vehicle. Initially, when he takes samples from suspected cases, Dr. Brown has to take it himself in his own personal car.