Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor - died

[Pathfinder]

AP/September 11, 2014, 9:06 PM

Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Another doctor from Sierra Leone who has tested positive for Ebola will be evacuated for medical treatment, an official said Thursday, making her the first citizen of a hard-hit country to be treated abroad.

Dr. Olivette Buck is the fourth Sierra Leonean doctor to contract the disease - and the three others all have died. Arrangements are being made to send her to another country for better treatment, said Health Ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis without specifying further.

So far, only foreign health and aid workers have been evacuated abroad for treatment from Sierra Leone and Liberia...
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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fourth-doctor-from-sierra-leone-to-receive-ebola-treatment/

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

Re: Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

Save Sierra Leone's Dr. Buck

<TABLE style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto" class=tr-caption-container cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"></TD></TR><TR><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class=tr-caption>Dr. Olivette Buck leads President Koroma on a visit to the Lumley Govt. Hospital in October 2013</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Stricter infection control measures are in place as well as the personal protective equipment medical staff wear, but Ebola continues to take its toll on Sierra Leonean medical professionals and health workers in treatment centers. Early on Thursday, September 11, an SOS went out for another doctor:


A PLEA for a fellow doctor's life

My colleague Dr. Olivette Buck is one of the most dedicated and determined physicians I know. She had worked for over 20 yrs as a teacher before entering medical school and finally graduating the same year as me-in 2002. A patriot and focused individual. Further to this, she is soon to be ( or perhaps already) a member of the West African College if Physicians. One of the few to recently challenge this position. A mother of three and a dedicated Christian. She also unfortunately happens to be the first female physician infected in Sierra Leone. We all need her to WIN THIS BATTLE! To give US doctors hope and faith our country won't let us down in this battles. Other countries have recorded victories amongst doctors. Please Press Each Button You Can And Let's Get Her Out To Receive The Top Most Treatment Possible Immediately! --Dr. Es? Thomas-Macauley


Just in: Associated Press's Clarence Roy-Macaulay reports that Health Ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis says that arrangements are being made to evacuate her to another country so she can receive better medical treatment.

She is the fourth Sierra Leonean doctor to become infected during the current outbreak in West Africa. So far, only westerners have been evacuated for treatment abroad, Roy-Macaulay wrote.
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http://sewanews.blogspot.com/2014/0...sic#!/2014/09/save-sierra-leones-dr-buck.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

Re: Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

Sierra Leone asks WHO for funds to evacuate doctor sick with Ebola

Associated Press Sept. 13, 2014 | 10:37 a.m. EDT + More

By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY, Associated Press
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) ? Sierra Leone has requested funds from the World Health Organization to evacuate a doctor sick with the deadly Ebola disease.

Dr. Olivet Buck is the fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to come down with Ebola...

Buck, a citizen of Sierra Leone, would be the first doctor from one of the countries hit hardest by Ebola to receive treatment abroad. The other three doctors from Sierra Leone died in the country.

A letter from President Ernest Bai Koroma's office said he had approved Buck's evacuation to a hospital in Hamburg, Germany, "where they are in readiness to receive her."

The letter, sent to the WHO's country representative on Friday and seen Saturday by The Associated Press, said Buck tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday. "We have been informed that Dr. Buck is quite ill," it said.

The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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http://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...rra-leone-requests-funds-for-ebola-evacuation

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

Re: Fourth doctor from Sierra Leone to receive Ebola treatment

Ebola outbreak: WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

The Associated PressPosted: Sep 13, 2014 1:32 PM ET|Last Updated: Sep 13, 2014 3:36 PM ET

The World Health Organization said Saturday it could not meet a request from Sierra Leone to evacuate a doctor who contracted the deadly Ebola disease.
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A letter from President Ernest Bai Koroma's office said he had approved Buck's evacuation to a hospital in Hamburg, Germany, "where they are in readiness to receive her."
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A spokesman for the WHO said on Saturday, however, that it could not comply with the request and instead would work to give Buck "the best care possible" in Sierra Leone, including access to experimental drugs.

"WHO is unable to organize evacuation of this doctor to (Germany) but is exploring all options on how to ensure best care," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.

"WHO will facilitate the best care possible in country for Dr. Buck, including access to experimental drugs," Jasarevic said.
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/ebola...a-leone-to-evacuate-infected-doctor-1.2765491

 

[AnnaLisa]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Really? And they wonder why HCW are not flocking to volunteer?! I feel this was a very bad decision on WHO's part. Yes, I get that every one should have equal care, but, right now, we need our physicians, technical people, and advanced practice workers. Sinking feeling.

 

[erruve]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Really? And they wonder why HCW are not flocking to volunteer?! I feel this was a very bad decision on WHO's part. Yes, I get that every one should have equal care, but, right now, we need our physicians, technical people, and advanced practice workers. Sinking feeling.

I agree. This was a really bad decision.

 

[JJackson]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

I think the WHO are realising this is going to become a problem with increasing numbers and are looking at a protocol or definition as to who can take virus outside the outbreak area.
The pattern to date has been the repatriation of a small number of nationals to their country of origin. In this case someone is wishing to leave their home nation to travel to Western Europe in the hope of better care. If this is OK then can anyone who can afford it pick a country with better health care and go (that would separate the elites from the masses), or only HCWs.? What about senior politicians? infection has reached the wife of an aid to the President of Liberia what if the Head of State becomes ill, could she travel? Sawyer had dual nationality, what then?

You see the dilemma. A line may need to be drawn and what we are seeing may be an attempt to stop a precedent being set which could complicate things later. Wherever the cut-off is it needs to be clear and applied without fear or favour and it must not smack of having one rule for Westerners and one for Africans or any trust we are generating will evaporate.

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

. . . Wherever the cut-off is it needs to be clear and applied without fear or favour and it must not smack of having one rule for Westerners and one for Africans or any trust we are generating will evaporate.

Nor should there be a differential treatment for the affluent.

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

A Senegalese doctor who contracted Ebola while working for the World Health Organisation in Sierra Leone is receiving treatment in Germany presently.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226962

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

4th Doctor Dies of Ebola in Sierra Leone
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone ? Sep 14, 2014, 7:59 AM ET
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY Associated Press

Sierra Leone has lost a fourth doctor to Ebola after a failed effort to transfer her abroad for medical treatment, a government official said Sunday, a huge setback to the impoverished country that is battling the virulent disease amid a shortage of health care workers.

Dr. Olivet Buck died late Saturday, hours after the World Health Organization said it could not help medically evacuate her to Germany, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo confirmed to The Associated Press.

Sierra Leone had requested funds from WHO to transport Buck to Europe, saying the country could not afford to lose another doctor.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/4th-doctor-dies-ebola-sierra-leone-25489677

 

[ming]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor - died

I think they waited too long. Poor lady.

 

[JJackson]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor

A Senegalese doctor who contracted Ebola while working for the World Health Organisation in Sierra Leone is receiving treatment in Germany presently.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226962

Thanks. I thought about that one at the time the WHO said they had an infected staff member. If I recall correctly they did not give a nationality in the original release. Yet another case to trap for in the legal wording both a direct WHO employee and a national of an unaffected state (at that time).
Factors in that decision would have to include the risk of spread. If you do not allow ex-pat humanitarian staff exit visas you risk cutting off volunteers to areas where the HC system has broken down. If you only allow repatriation to the State on the individuals passport you may be sending them back to a country with poor HC infrastructure and the real risk of loss of isolation into a community no better able to handle an outbreak than Liberia.
If you make an exception for HCWs who do you mean Doctors, Nurses, burial teams, mortuary workers, the guy who sprays chlorine, grave diggers, contact tracers, drivers, treatment center guards, those who prepare the food, cleaners. They are all part of the team.
It is not an easy decision and thinking a month ago may have been different as the situation has changed radically. The US 25 bed military facility - ear marked for non general use - may be a step in the process. Hospital ships have been mentioned a few times but I have not seen any tasked to this outbreak and yet they would seem to be an obvious deploy-able asset.
Both my posts in this thread should be treated as speculation on my part - and my part alone. I am not privy to any sources of information you can not find on this site or by following its links.

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor - died

Sierra Leone: WHO Too Slow to Help Doc With Ebola

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone ? Sep 15, 2014, 3:17 PM ET
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY Associated Press

Sierra Leone accused the World Health Organization on Monday of being "sluggish" in facilitating an evacuation of a doctor who died from Ebola before she could be sent out of the country for medical care.

Dr. Olivet Buck died Saturday, hours after the U.N. health agency said it could not help evacuate her to Germany.
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At a heated news conference Monday, a Sierra Leonean government official read a statement saying that the Buck is the second doctor from that country to die because negotiations on evacuation had dragged on. Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, the country's top Ebola expert, was being considered for evacuation when he died of the disease in July.

"In both the cases of late Dr. Khan and Dr. Buck, we have observed a sluggish willingness by WHO in facilitating medical evacuation of Sierra Leonean Ebola-infected doctors for advance treatment abroad," according to a statement from a presidential communications task force read out by Deputy Minister for Political and Public Affairs Karamoh Kabba.

He added that the two doctors died while their fates "**** in negotiations."

But the World Health Organization responded Monday that it can only evacuate its own staff and that, given the number of health workers becoming infected, the solution is not to evacuate them all anyway. Some 300 health care workers have been infected so far, about half of whom have died.

"We would like to help everyone, but we cannot help every health worker that gets infected," said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman at WHO. "We need to ensure enough quality health facilities in those countries so everyone can get treated, firstly health workers."
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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/sierra-leone-slow-doc-ebola-25516548

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Ebola - WHO denies request from Sierra Leone to evacuate infected doctor - died

Op-Ed
West Africans are key to fighting Ebola

By Wendy Orent
September 25, 2014, 4:56 PM
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In the view of many Africans, the West has let native doctors and nurses die of Ebola, while evacuating afflicted Western volunteers for treatment in Europe and the United States. ?In my mind,? says Dr. James Wilson, an expert in operational biosurveillance who has been tracking Ebola for 15 years, ?the first people you want to save in these situations are the indigenous physicians. It's a little bit of a double standard here ? the Westerners take care of their own. That sends a bad message to the Africans.?

Fair's close friend Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, a 39-year-old Sierra Leonean physician, was one of the epidemic's victims. A star in Sierra Leone's medical establishment, Khan took care of more than 100 Ebola patients, including two nurses at the hospital in Kenema, before he contracted Ebola. An airplane stood on the tarmac for 72 hours waiting to fly him out of Sierra Leone, but layers of international bureaucracy kept him off the plane until it was too late.

Compounding the situation, it was decided, after a long argument, not to give Khan the first experimental dose of ZMapp, a drug being developed to treat Ebola. The decision grieved Fair and many others. But since there hadn't been human trials, no one wanted to appear to be experimenting on an African. Still, shortly after his death, two American health workers in Liberia were flown to America and treated with ZMapp. Both survived.

To date, Fair says, more than 40 indigenous medical workers in Sierra Leone ? doctors, nurses, drivers, attendants, hospital cleaners ? have become infected, many fatally. The government of Sierra Leone begged the WHO for funds to evacuate another physician, Dr. Olivet Buck, but the organization denied the request, promising the best possible treatment in Sierra Leone instead, including a course of ZMapp. She died, the fourth Sierra Leonean doctor to die in the outbreak.
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The only way to combat the virus effectively is for Westerners to recognize the critical value of the indigenous physicians and healthcare workers, to protect them, and to earn back the confidence of the peoples of West Africa. ?It would have been such a good thing if Khan had been saved, because it would have shown people that there is a path forward,? says virologist and Ebola expert Thomas W. Geisbert of the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston, Texas.
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http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-orent-ebola-sierra-leone-20140926-story.html
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Hattip Ronan Kelly

"A recent retrospective investigation of EVD cases from throughout the course of the outbreak in Sierra Leone indicated that the number of health-care workers (HCWs) infected was higher than previously reported."

Sierra Leone: health-care workers: 113 Ebola cases, 81 deaths as of Sept. 21, 2014

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=227983