The Rivers State quarantine centre for Ebola virus victims is not yet
ready, PUNCH investigations have revealed.
A visit to the temporary quarantine centre at Emohua in Emohua Local
Government Area of the state showed that no patient had been moved to
the centre on Saturday.
The development is coming just as the state government said no fewer
than 160 persons had been isolated and sent to the quarantine centre.
It was noticed during our correspondent's visit that the
reconstruction of former Emohua Primary Health Centre was still
ongoing.
A nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, said contrary to speculation,
the centre was not yet ready.
She said work on the former health centre began on Friday.
She said it was on Friday that reconstruction started at the health
centre that has been named Ebola Quarantine Centre.
The nurse said, "As I speak to you, no single patient is here. Do not
mind what people are saying that some patients have been brought here.
"The white men you are seeing came yesterday. They have been
reconstructing the PHC. They are also fixing some equipment brought by
the Ministry of Health. Many people have been saying they have brought
many victims here. This is not true. As you can see, the place is
undergoing reconstruction."
"Many workers are confused because there is no adequate place for them
to carry out their functions. Government should open up on where they
keep the victims, instead of allowing rumours to fly all over the
place."
It was learnt that as soon as the state government announced the
health centre as the temporary quarantine centre, indigenes of the
community protested.
A resident of Emohua, who gave his name only as Chinedu, claimed they
had a tuberculosis centre, lamenting that now the government had
brought Ebola quarantine centre to them.
"We are not happy that our area has been turned into sickness and
disease centre. This is unfair. We are told that this virus is deadly.
So, why has the government brought this quarantine centre to our area?
"We need infrastructure development, good institutions and not disease
centres alone. Do they want to decimate us?"
On the fences of the quarantine building, inscriptions such as "This
is a health centre not Ebola centre", "We say not to Ebola", "Our
community is not disease centre" were written all over it.
Some policemen had been drafted by the state government to the centre.
When PUNCH contacted the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson
Parker, on the development, he said he could not comment on the matter
as he was in a meeting.
PUNCH.
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