Disease infectors in trouble!

Serious trouble awaits those effected with communicable diseases and knowingly infect other people, as the House of Representatives is reviewing a bill to criminalize the concealing of information of persons with communicable or contagious diseases in the country.

Lofa County Representative Moses Kollie, who proposed the bill, said if a person or group of persons knowingly or willfully infect another person or group of persons with any communicable disease, it should be considered a criminal Act. The Bill is titled “2014 Act Criminalizing Concealing Information of persons with Communicable or Contiguous Infectious Diseases in Liberia.”

Communicable or contiguous diseases listed in the communication to Plenary  from the Lofa County lawmaker include: the deadly Ebola virus, gonorrhea hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, Lassa fever, Leprosy, Measles, Meningitis, Smallpox, Tuberculosis, Typhoid fever and Yellow fever, among others.

“If a person or group of persons, knowingly, intentionally or willfully infect another person or groups of persons with any of the communicable or contiguous diseases as mentioned in section 3 of this Act, it shall be considered a Criminal Offense, second degree felony punishment under the laws of the Republic of Liberia”, the communication read.

However a motion was made in Plenary for the communication to be sent to the House Committees on Health and Social Welfare and Judiciary to review and advice that honorable body next Tuesday. The Bill followed the recent looter of an Ebola holding center by angry residents in the Township of West Point.

Assistant Health Minister for Preventive Services, Tolbert Nyenswah told journalists that the protesters, burglarized and looted the Ebola holding unit, while securities played cool to avoid casualties. A minimum of 22 persons, who were being held at the West Point holding unit fled for their lives in the community, creating panic here.