Tappita chiefs get pat on the back

The Medical Director for the Jackson F. Doe Memorial Referral Hospital in Tappita, Nimba County, Doctor Francis Kateh, has applauded chiefs of Tappita District for successfully fighting the Ebola Virus Disease in the district.

 Addressing reporters at the Ministry of Information Wednesday, 17 March he said since the outbreak of the virus in Nimba, Tappita has not reported a single case and now Liberia is counting 16 more days to be declared Ebola free.

Dr. Kateh said when the virus entered Liberia in March last year, he and other healthcare workers went around in the second week of April and educated the chiefs on what to do if they got infected.

According to him, the chiefs have been in the frontline to protect their district and to carry on awareness among community residents and they were able to stop all traditional activities to help stop the spread of the virus.

Doctor Kateh noted that during the heat of the Ebola virus, he was assigned to the government’s Incident Management System, but the doors of JFD were never closed.

Highlighting some achievements made by the hospital, he said it has the only Pathologist in Liberia and is just in its fifth year of operations manned by Liberian expert doctors working to save lives of Liberians.

He said many of the staff at the Jackson F. Doe Memorial Hospital has benefited lot of training both in and out of the country, adding that they come back and serve the hospital after their training.

Dr Kateh said Liberia has gone 26 days Ebola free, but warns that Liberians still need to be more vigilant because the virus is still in the subregion. According to him, the Government of Liberia is setting up a surveillance system at all its borders with neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone where the virus still remains very active to avoid a resurface into Liberia. 

By Ethel A. Tweh