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Source: http://www.wfla.com/story/26876881/cremation-fears-leave-empty-ebola-beds-in-liberia
Cremation fears leave empty Ebola beds in Liberia
Posted: Oct 23, 2014 3:51 PM EDT Updated: Oct 23, 2014 3:51 PM EDT
By Associated Press
MONROVIA, LIBERIA -
Even as Liberians fall ill and die of Ebola, more than half the beds in treatment centers in the capital remain empty because of the government's order that the bodies of all suspected Ebola victims in Monrovia be cremated .Cremation violates Liberians' values and cultural practices and the order has so disturbed people in the west African nation that the sick are often kept at home and, if they die, are secretly buried, increasing the risk of more infections
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued the cremation decree for Monrovia and the surrounding area in August, and the government has brought in a crematorium and hired experts. The order came after people in neighborhoods of the capital resisted burials of hundreds of Ebola victims near their homes.
Since then, a recent analysis of space at Ebola treatment centers shows that of 742 beds available, more than half ? 391 ? were vacant, said Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who heads the government's Ebola response...
Cremation fears leave empty Ebola beds in Liberia
Posted: Oct 23, 2014 3:51 PM EDT Updated: Oct 23, 2014 3:51 PM EDT
By Associated Press
MONROVIA, LIBERIA -
Even as Liberians fall ill and die of Ebola, more than half the beds in treatment centers in the capital remain empty because of the government's order that the bodies of all suspected Ebola victims in Monrovia be cremated .Cremation violates Liberians' values and cultural practices and the order has so disturbed people in the west African nation that the sick are often kept at home and, if they die, are secretly buried, increasing the risk of more infections
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued the cremation decree for Monrovia and the surrounding area in August, and the government has brought in a crematorium and hired experts. The order came after people in neighborhoods of the capital resisted burials of hundreds of Ebola victims near their homes.
Since then, a recent analysis of space at Ebola treatment centers shows that of 742 beds available, more than half ? 391 ? were vacant, said Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who heads the government's Ebola response...