Ghanaian doctor recounts traumatic experience with Ebola in Liberia
Despite having three protective gloves on instead of the mandated two, a Ghanaian doctor recounts how he shivered to his bones when he came face to face with an Ebola patient in Liberia.
Advertisement
With over 500 health workers dead from the Ebola scourge, Ghanaian volunteer Dr. Osei Poku recalls the moment after touching an Ebola patient fearing he could become another fatal statistic.
“The first day I saw a patient diagnosed with Ebola and I actually touched the patient…and this was a patient in an advanced stage, bleeding in mouth and nose, I was terrified”.
Despite wearing three gloves instead of the conventional two, Dr. Osei Poku still feared that his protective gloves and suits could fail in protecting him from the deadliest epidemic.
Dr. Osei Poku was part of 42-health personnel volunteer team from Ghana dispatched to countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea where the tragic effects of Ebola had claimed the lives of many people.
In the beginning, the mention of Ebola brought shivers to the spine of people so much so that even health personnel in Ghana once said if they see an Ebola patient, they will run away from their duty post.
However, today the disease has been demystified through education and awareness creation leading to 42 health workers volunteering to be part of a regional team sent to the three most affected countries in West Africa to help fight the disease.
Health personnel deplored
As part of a regional response coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) 53 frontline health workers from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Mali were dispatched to Guinea to help tackle the Ebola epidemic in that country in December 2, 2014.
Another batch of 29 workers was sent to Sierra Leone, while 49 others were deployed to Liberia on December 5, 2014.
The volunteers, including 42 Ghanaians, were trained and deployed to the Health ministries in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The health workers, included doctors, nurses, epidemiologists and public health experts, who were drawn from Ghana, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.
They spent three months in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone were quarantined in Ivory Coast for 21 days to ensure they were free from the deadly virus before they returned to their various countries.
But the moment in Liberia is engraved in Dr. Osei Poku’s mind.
Ebola in Liberia
“I had a strong surge of feeling. I felt like tearing…for the next 21 days I was just monitoring myself. I didn’t know what to think”.
A father of two, Dr. Osei Poku recounted how he formed part of the Ghanaian team at a time when some health workers in the country had expressed fears that they would abandon their post if Ebola ever got reported at a health centre.
He said he was part of a regional taskforce committee in Ghana training health workers on how to prepare for Ebola if it was reported.
“It was all talk, very little practical experience”, he said until the opportunity came to go to Liberia after ECOWAS leaders agreed to send professional support to Ebola-affected countries.
Looking back he says it is an “honour” to have served in Liberia. He expressed gratitude to God for that opportunity.
“We went, we saw and by God’s grace we helped conquer and we are back”, the brave doctor said.
Training
To date, a number of workers have been trained under WHO’s guidance.
In Guinea, the WHO with other partners has trained 75 doctors to supervise health-care workers conducting contact tracing; While 50 doctors have been previously trained and deployed. The goal is to have six doctors in each of the active 17 prefectures.
In Liberia, working with the Ministry of Health (MOH), WHO has trained around 100 participants in the hot zone and is expanding its hot-zone training capacity. WHO will deliver in-clinic training to 40 national and international personnel per week over 2 training sessions. Nearly 1000 Ebola treatment unit personnel have been trained in cold case management due to the collective efforts of WHO, MOH-Liberia and the US Department of Defence.
In Sierra Leone, the Government of United Kingdom and WHO have trained about 4,115 health-care workers, hygienists and trainers in basic personal protective equipment, infection prevention and control, and site layout.
With such training programmes, and provision of the necessary resources, the fears such as were entertained by Dr Osei Poku could be allayed among health personnel who have to manage Ebola cases.
-Writer's [email protected]
Fact Sheet
• There have been a total of 25,178 reported confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of EVD in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone with over 10,000 reported
• A total of 57 new confirmed cases were reported in Guinea, 0 in Liberia, and 25 in Sierra Leone between March 22 and 29 March, 2015.
• The total number of confirmed and probable cases is similar in males and females. Compared with children (people aged 14 years and under), people aged 15 to 44 are approximately three times more likely to be affected. People aged 45 and over are three to five times more likely to be affected than are children.
• A total of 861 confirmed health worker infections have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone; there have been 495 reported deaths.
A Daily Graphic publication in collaboration with Ouestaf News and with support from Osiwa.