KAKATA, September 19 (LINA) – A Liberian medical doctor is calling for a permanent facility of the Mano River Union (MRU) to rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks in the sub- region.

Set up as an economic bloc, the MRU groups Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and La Cote d’Ivoire, the only member state not yet affected by the Ebola virus.

Dr. Lyndon Mabande said the setting up of such a permanent body will help address problems associated with such outbreaks as the Ebola pandemic that has claimed hundreds of lives in the bloc.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Liberia News Agency recently, Dr. Mabande, who runs the Firestone Rubber Plantation Hospital in Du-Side, observed that the current Ebola crisis has also gravely impacted the economies of the affected countries.

He said the Ebola situation in the sub-region requires a collective effort by these countries and the international community to contain it.

Dr. Mabande observed that if the MRU had in place such a facility before the outbreak of the Ebola virus Guinea, the disease could have been contained to prevent it from spreading to other countries.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mabande said the Firestone Medical Department received its first Ebola case in early April this year, noting that the victim did not survive.

He said the hospital has also received several suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola that have been handled with the release of six survivors from its Ebola Treatment Unit over the weekend, while another four are expected to be released on Friday.
LINA RDB/GDJ/TSS/PTK