By State House Communications Unit
As government continues to shore up efforts in the fight against Ebola, President Ernest Bai Koroma on Tuesday 4th November described the Kerry Town Ebola Treatment Center as a world class facility. He made this statement during a conducted tour of the completed center located in the Western Rural district. The well designed treatment facility is expected to start operations today (5th November) as it will immensely ease the pressure on both bed and laboratory capacities in the on-going fight to eradicate Ebola.
President Koroma expressed strong belief that after rolling out the other treatment centres across the country, the issue of laboratory capacity will be a thing of the past. “This is most impressive and I believe it is a world class treatment centre. I am sure that it will help in addressing this challenging Ebola fight that we have ahead of us.” He thanked the British government for the timely support and praised the tireless efforts and collaboration between the RSLAF, DFID and the local personnel on the ground, and added that this will give a lot of confidence not only to the locals but also to international health workers to come in and boost the fight against the spreading virus.
The president also expressed hope that with ongoing efforts being made and the unrelenting commitment of government and its development partners, the fight against Ebola will be won soon.
The Project Director of the Kerry Town Treatment Centre Mr. Andy Mason led the president to the wards, isolation unit, recovery unit, laboratory among others. He informed President Koroma that 150 Sierra Leoneans have been employed and trained to work in the facility. After explaining the process of decontamination, the president was taken to the area where the clinical waste was destroyed and burnt to ensure that the waste does not contaminate the site.
The Ebola point-man for the Department for International Development (DFID) Mr. Donal Brown said that the laboratory capacity at the moment was 300 samples a day and added that it will be improved to 500 samples a day. He stated that they are presently putting in efforts to have similar facilities in Makeni and PortLoko. He assured the president that by the end of November the issue of laboratories will be adequately addressed. The treatment center has a bed capacity of 92.
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