She, however, warned Liberians to continue to follow the measures outlined by health authorities to break the transmission of the disease, as there are still hotspots and pockets in communities.

“I feel very good. The people are working well – doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers – they are all very vigilant and very efficient; more importantly, most of the ETUs don’t have patients,” an elated Liberian President told journalists.

According to an Executive Mansion release, President Sirleaf made the statement following a tour of several ETUs around Monrovia to assess conditions there, including constraints and to thank healthcare workers, partners, and volunteers for their services to the country, especially in the fight against the Ebola virus.
The President’s visit took her to treatment units at ELWA-II, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ELWA-III, Ministry of Defense, the three ETUs under construction at the Samuel Kayon Doe Sports Complex and the National Ebola Command Center in Sinkor.

At ELWA-II, Dr. Jerry Brown, head of the treatment facility, informed President Sirleaf that as of Tuesday, November 18, there were only 34 patients at that 100-bed facility.
Fourteen patients were discharged on Monday, November 17, most of them from Rivercess County, he said.

Dr. Brown confirmed that there is a decline in the number of Ebola cases as compared to previous weeks.
“For the past one week, we’ve had a total of seven admissions on the average - two admissions a day, sometimes one or no patients,” he told the President.
On plans to increase the survival rate of Ebola patients, Dr. Brown disclosed plans to shortly begin to extract plasma from Ebola survivors that will be discharged from the unit to treat infected patients with the serum at the ETU, noting that the World Health Organization has approved his treatment unit for the study.

At the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ELWA-III, President Sirleaf was informed by the Project Coordinator Azaad Alocco, that Ebola cases were declining. He said with over 140-bed capacity, they had only 25 patients at the unit.
At the Ministry of Defense (MOD) ETU, which has been in operation for just two-weeks, the head of the unit, Dr. Soka Moses, informed President Sirleaf that already 16 patients have been admitted.

However, he was about to discharge his first survivor.
The unit is being run by a Cuban staff of 20 doctors and 29 nurses, 177 Liberian staff; while a Swedish team is assisting with management, maintenance, and logistics.
LINA