By David Jabati
The Chinese Coronavirus disease has finally extended its ugly claws here in Sierra Leone; we do fervently pray that it will not spread like a wild fire in the savannah grassland.
However, as we pray and put measures in place for any unforeseen eventualities, we must be well prepared considering the alarming trend of its spread globally and attendant consequences as it rage on.
Which is why citizens demand that it is high time the government established a National COVID-19 Response Centre, like we had the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) during the dreadful Ebola war days?
You don’t want to close the door when the horse has bolted, I guess. Unfortunately however, the horse has bolted. In the circumstance, creating a Centre that primarily deals with disease prevention and control will be prudent enough, not only when there is an outbreak but one that would remain in existence just for that purpose or related purposes. Not just for Ebola or COVID-19 but for other viral diseases that we may not know where they are coming from.
In a country where there are no virologists (the few we had died with the Ebola); where there are less than 20 ventilators in government hospitals and where the entire health system is nothing good to write home about, a hub that will coordinate and manage the spread of disease outbreaks in the country must be established now.
I interviewed the then National Coordinator of NERC, Steven Gaogia, on two occasions, both at the then Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) in 2014 and at NERC in 2015. And when I saw and hear him share his knowledge in fighting the Ebola disease, with the President at State House, the first thing I said to myself was, “the savior is back!” His experience can be tapped for the good of all.
Steven Gaogia said to me in 2014, “I was out of the country for a while. I came in August 2014 at a time when nobody wanted to go around Ebola and Dr. Khan had just died. I was called by the then President, Ernest BaiKoroma, to set up an Emergency Operation Center (EOC) just at the time when there was no structure except the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. So, I agreed.”
He went on to intimate that he decided to set up a team, decentralized the response, and requested to have District Coordinators directly answerable to the National Coordinator, his very self.
“I then requested for a nation-wide seat-at-home campaign, which was later dubbed – lockdown. It was actually a psycho-therapeutic exercise,” he said.
The EOC, he said, faced lots of unintended consequences in its response efforts, “going out to learn people how to wash their hands at time when they had no confidence in the response; dead bodies were kept in homes and a lot more,” he disclosed, adding that they then introduced what was dubbed: Safe and Dignified Burial, ensured community ownership and brought on board faith-based institutions and traditional herbalists.
It could be recalled that when the United Nations Mission on Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) visited the country in September 2014, the first person the team met with was Steven Gaogia and they were very pleased with the EOC’s response effort at the time.
Following that visit, the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) was established in late September 2014 and the then Minister of Defence, Palo Conteh, was brought into the equation as CEO, more or less, the political face of the response drive, with Steven Gaogia still as the National Coordinator.
Again, Steven Gaogia was there to do the dirty job. I approached him for the second time for an interview in October 2015, which he granted me. At this time, the figures of reported infected and death cases had reduced considerably. When I asked him how they were able to contain the disease that far, this was what he said to me:
“When we established the NERC, I decided that we should set up a Situation Room like in the British Army. There we collected data from all over the country, analysed it and made necessary decisions. We also established Command Centres in all the districts and we had District Health Management Teams at both national and district level.”
He furthered that they appointed 14 District Coordinators that were individuals who commanded significant respect in their communities who, he said, also contributed significantly to the entire process as, according to him, they could have done everything from the national level.
“With the new strategies and those we implemented at the EOC, we were able to be where we are today and we are sure of winning the fight,” he said confidently.
To Steven Gaogia, that was the secret behind the success that saw the end of the Ebola outbreak on the 7th of November, 2015 after the country went for 42 days without a reported case and NERC officially wrapped up on the 31st of December 2015.
According to health experts, though modifications would be needed to curb the Coronavirus outbreak, the response will not be different.
As citizens call for the establishment of a centre that will be responsible for responding to disease outbreaks, let us ensure that we follow lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak and let the right people deal with the issue at hand.
Those who think they can use the current situation to grab jobs that they are not fit for should be disappointed. This is not the time to create new jobs just to compensate or satisfy certain individuals.