President Koroma Urges WHO to Intensify Efforts in The Fight Against Ebola

Pres. Koroma @ WHO Ebola Treatment Center in Freetown

President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma has paid an unexpected visit to the Ebola Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the WHO Country Office off King Harman Road, Freetown.

It would be recalled that the EOC was formed as a response mechanism to fight the deadly Ebola outbreak and is co-Directed by the Minister of Health, Ms. Miata Kargbo and the WHO Representative for Sierra Leone, Dr. Jacob Mufunda and consists of leaders and partners involved in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus. 

Unfortunately, when the President visited WHO this morning, the centre was closed with no sign that there is an emergency in the country right now to tackle the outbreak. 

It was expected that the operations centre was in full swing on a 24 hour basis. "We need quick response and decision making to speed up the process in redesigning our strategy to fight this deadly disease," President Koroma said, and urged WHO to ensure the EOC is fully operational. 

President Koroma also assigned Ambassador Professor Monty Jones to monitor the operations of the EOC at all times to ensure it's up and running on a 24 hour basis. He vowed to be visiting the centre without notice. 

Meanwhile, the President also visited unannounced the King Harman Road Satellite Hospital to find out the state of the facility since it reported the first positive Ebola case last week. 

The doctor on duty told President Koroma that the entire hospital was fumigated since the discovery of the first positive Ebola case. 

He was taken on a well guided tour of the hospital; including the area/bed the deceased Ebola patient was admitted.