Treyfish
Moderator
Following the loss of a handful of its staff to the Ebola disease, the clinical and blood bank laboratories in Kenema have been closed indefinitely.
Information on the closure of the lab facility was disclosed to Awoko by the President of the Sierra Leone Medical Laboratory Association, Rtd. Captain Hafiju M. Kanja.
He said that the blood bank and the Clinical laboratory were housed in the same building where testing for the viral haemorrhagic fever-Ebola is being conducted.
The retired Captain said since the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country, the laboratory department alone had lost six of its staff, five of whom died in just two days.
He listed them as: Hawa Samba, E.K.Fayia, Lansana Koroma, Gemba Brima and Brima Fambuleh in the clinical laboratory, and Mohamed Fullah in the Haemorrhagic laboratory who, he said, died few weeks ago in Kailahun management centre, following the death of Dr. Umar Khan.
Captain Kanja explained that the Blood bank is in a separate building where HIV and other tests are being conducted and the main clinical laboratory is hosted in the same building where Hemorrhagic fever tests are being conducted.
He said that because of the great loss they have experienced for the past two days, he has instructed his members to withhold their service for the next 21 days to observe whether another case of Ebola infection will not come up among the remaining lab technicians.
He noted that the out-patients department where the malaria rapid test has been going on will still continue.
He added that doctors will now prescribe drugs based on the medical history of the patient. He described the situation as ?unfortunate? as they too need to be protected.
He disclosed that after the death of Hawa Samba, an Indian laboratory scientist, Dr. Nadia working at Metabiota lab and John Goba attached to the Tulane University laboratory, provided them with some protective gears: the type they had been using earlier for Ebola prevention.
A visit to the main laboratory close to the Ebola case management centre, the only staff that was spotted around was the waiter at the entrance, whose job is to ensure that patients entering the lab washed their hands.
However, during the programme, members of the populace expressed fear that if the workers at the laboratory are not fully protected, they too will continue infecting patients from outside.
They viewed that now that the Haemorrhagic fever laboratory is temporarily closed in Kailahun district, more cases will be sent to Kenema and there will be more pressure on the few staff that will volunteer to work.
They therefore called on the government and international organizations for immediate intervention to rescue the situation before it gets out of control.
Friday August 29, 2014
:tiphat:http://awoko.org/2014/08/29/sierra-leone-news-clinical-blood-bank-labs-closed-in-kenema/