«Maybe weve done it. Maybe we really can beat this epidemic. The number of new cases is falling sharply every day, so lets hope there arent any sudden upswings again. Maybe, in the not-too-distant future, well be able to say the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone has come to an end. But what an effort its taken! And how many miracles. When the Health Ministry asked us to open an Isolation centre in Lakka for suspected cases, back in August, within just three weeks our logistics managers had created a tent structure for a total of 22 beds. It soon turned into a Treatment Centre as well: there were just too many patients, lying on the ground outside the gate, worn out by the illness and waiting for a bed. And so the race began to get everything ready to not only isolate and observe the patients, but also to treat them: ensuring water and electricity supplies, guaranteeing safety procedures and routines, providing air-conditioning to reduce the physical effort of operators wrapped up in really hot protective suits and, at last, beginning to treat the sick. Because even if theres no specific cure, many lives can still be saved if you can understand something of this serious illness thats still largely unknown, and if you have the right instruments and pharmaceuticals. So, step after step and with enormous difficulty, we set up a biochemical lab and then a virology lab. The monitors arrived, along with the pumps for intravenous infusions, the ventilators for intubating the most serious patients, and the dialysis machines. In just three months, we managed to set up an intensive care unit like those you can find in the specialised centres of Europe and the USA - which have treated around 30 people, with a mortality rate of less than 30%. Two out of three got better in the rich countries. Two out of three died in the poverty of Africa. Due to lack of treatment. Things have changed now though. In EMERGENCYS new, 100-bed centre in Goderich, we can provide almost the same level of treatment as in the West, right here in Sierra Leone. Weve got an excellent Intensive Care unit, the only one of its kind in the country. Perhaps it wont be needed for much longer if the Ebola epidemic is (as we hope) drawing to a close. But it will be needed again, the next time, and in the meantime to treat the many seriously ill people who, until yesterday, were incurable. Were proud of this because weve shown it can be done, even here in Africa. Because weve shown, once again, that patients have no colour; theyre people, with exactly the same rights as us. Free and equal, as wed all like to be. A few months ago, I said (a bit hastily) ”If I catch Ebola, Ill stay in Africa.” Now I can firmly say, with peace of mind: Id seek treatment at EMERGENCYs ETC (Ebola Treatment Centre). Over the years, setting up a multitude of hospitals, weve often asked ourselves “but what should a hospital be like in Iraq or in the Central African Republic, in Sudan or in Afghanistan? What facilities, equipment and therapies should be made available?” We answered that question in the most simple and humane way: the hospital is “an EMERGENCY hospital”; its OK for “them” if its OK for us, for our loved ones, for all of us. Because equality also means sharing the same rights and being part of a common destiny. -- Gino Strada Freetown, Sierra Leone, 18th January»
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 08:34:30 +0000
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