Red Cross Denies Abandoning Ebola Patient By Adeyemi Jackson The Communications Officer of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, Patrick Massaquoi in an interview with the New Citizen on Tuesday 5th August 2014 clarified that the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society does not operate an ambulance to convey Ebola patients. Mr. Massaquoi was responding to a newspaper report that some people suspected of having contacted Ebola were abandoned in an ambulance with the Red Cross emblem. According to Patrick Massaquoi, the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society is currently implementing four major activities which are awareness-raising, contact tracing, psycho-social support and dead body management reiterating that they do not operate an ambulance to transport Ebola patients. He continued that the Red Cross has over the past few weeks been engaged in awareness-raising in different radio stations around the country, house to house campaign and also organizing cultural drama to educate people about the dangers of the deadly Ebola virus, the preventive measures and what to do if they contact the disease. He went on to inform that the Red Cross is also engaged in psycho-social support to relatives of victims by providing counseling and dead body management in some of the centers operated by Medecine Sans Frontiers (MSF) in Kailahun District. Patrick Masaquoi also revealed that the Red Cross operates a field hospital in Kenema District with adequate equipment and is getting support from international partners like the British, American, Spanish, Australian, Swedish and Finish Red Cross Societies. He further disclosed that over the weekend, they received a plane load of assorted materials for Ebola treatment that would be distributed to all the major health centers in the country disclosing that plans are underway for the Red Cross Society to procure an ambulance to convey people who have contacted the virus. Highlighting challenges, he mentioned the false accusation against the Red Cross that it is inflicting the virus on people but warned that the law was reviewed in 2012 which makes it a crime for people/organizations to use the Red Cross emblem in illegal activities and pledged that the Red Cross would do everything possible to curb the Ebola virus in the country.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 14:05:26 +0000
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