MONROVIA, September 23 (LINA) – Government has warned landlords and house owners against evicting health workers currently working at Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) from their buildings.
The government said it is concerned about information that landlords and house owners are giving tenants who are health workers at ETUs notices to leave their premises for fear that they will contaminate other tenants and their children.
Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Attorney Isaac Jackson, gave the warning Tuesday at the ministry’s daily Ebola press briefing in Monrovia.
Atty. Jackson noted that the government will not take kindly to such act as it has the propensity to promote the spread of the virus, and called on landlords and house owners involved in this practice to immediately stop.
Minister Jackson stressed that government will take strong action against any landlord caught in such act because it contravenes Chapter 13 and 14.6 of the Public Health Law of Liberia.
“This act on the part of landlords to ask tenants to leave their homes because they are working at ETUs is totally unacceptable and unpatriotic and government will not take this lightly,” Jackson stressed.
He said it was regrettable for people who are striving to save lives as a result of the Ebola outbreak that has claimed the lives of hundreds of Liberians to be given such inhumane treatment for no tangible reason, adding, “I think they deserve support rather than to be thrown out of homes they are seeking shelter in.”
The Deputy Information Minister called on health workers who are affected by such decision not to stop carrying out their national duty as the government is doing all it can to resolve the situation.
Chapter 14.6 of the Public Health Law states, among other things, that an attempt on the part of any citizen to willfully promote the spread of a disease to the detriment of others, such person will be prosecuted and when found guilty, will be sentenced to jail for up to 30 days and subsequently pay a fine of US$200.
LINA PSN/GDJ/TSS/PTK