‘You can see the difference between a developing country,’ Liberia’s Dr. Mohamed Sankoh told VICE from a holding center he and his team had built only days prior, ‘and a developed country like America.
‘If you have Ebola in America, none of them died. Do you know why? It is not because the virus, per se, it is because of the way they handled the management of the disease.’
Duncan Thomas was the first and only death of Ebola in the United States. He died shortly after the filming of this video.
Back to Sankoh’s point, though, here’s some of what goes into handling a disease like Ebola…
You must, he says, ‘be able to calculate at least, how much fluid was lost by this patient. Able to calculate at least, how many electrolytes and what kind of electrolytes are lost, and then replace them.
‘The capability [here in Liberia] is little or none at all.
‘We have never seen such a thing before. Cases all over, in a rampant way. It’s difficult.
‘We need helpers. We need those who have experienced such a pandemic before to come to our aid.
‘I have to cope. I have to cope with the stress. I have to cope with the emotion. If not, I will be a victim of circumstances.
‘If you think so much about the disease and you become frightened, what you’re supposed to do to protect yourself, you cannot do it. You will not think.
‘The fear of that, when the fear consumes you, then the disease equally consumes you. So you have to be alert.
‘You have to be alert at all times. No sleeping on the disease.
When asked if his staff was trained before creating the center, he said: ‘For this particular outbreak, of course to some extent. But the practical aspects, no, only the theoretical.
‘You see, theoretical training and the practical training, they are different.
‘It’s one thing in the classroom and one thing in there,’ he said, pointing to the entrance of the facility.
‘Inside there, what are you going to do?’
This post was published at Laissez Faire on OCT 10, 2014.
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