GBARNGA, September 16 (LINA) - Doctors in Bong County have called for the construction of a laboratory to detect and prevent future outbreaks of deadly diseases in the county.
Bong County Health Officer, Dr. Samson K. Arzoaquoi, made the call during the opening of a 50-bed Ebola Treatment Unit in Suacoco, Bong County on Monday.
Speaking on behalf of the doctors, Arzoaquoi pointed out that realizing that Bong County lies in the Lassa Fever belt, constructing such a facility will also save the county.
According to the doctors, constructing a technical laboratory will also serve as an empowerment to the county’s health sector and will help in addressing cases in the county and neighboring counties that refer to the centrally located Bong for treatment.
Addressing a brief meeting Sunday with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during a one-day visit the President paid to the county, the doctors also named the absence of ambulances, health workers’ demand for risk benefits, training and protection as few of the many challenges facing the county’s health sector.
Dr. Arzoaquoi commended the collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and said five cycles of training have been conducted but could not address concerns of risk benefit and therefore called on the Liberian Leader to give attention to this concern.
They told the Liberian leader that health centers in the county were never closed officially but that nurses and other health workers stopped going to work following the death of some of their colleagues from the deadly Ebola disease.
The doctors believe having at least one ambulance in each of the 13 districts will help reduce existing constraints as the county currently has only one functional ambulance at its disposal.
Responding, President Sirleaf promised to channel the doctors’ concerns through the relevant institutions and partners but called on them to “continue the good work.”
LINA BMK/JGT/TSS/PTK