Photo: Boakai Fofana/allAfrica DURING THE OUTBREAK OF the Ebola Virus Disease, over 4,000 Liberians die simply because the country lacked simple things such as gloves, beds, disinfectant, ambulances, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to treat the infected.
THE RESULTANT FACTOR OF THIS started with the mistrust and disbelief in the government when it was initially announced that there had been an outbreak of Ebola in Lofa County.
Amid calls for the closure of the border, Senator Cletus Wotorson and others said it needed to be opened.
WHEN THE SHIT HIT THE FENCE, they could not find or appropriate the money within the budget to purchase some of the things listed in the opening paragraphs.
NATIONS BEGAN TO PANIC. Countries around the world were panicking especially following the deaths of Thomas Eric Duncan and Patrick Sawyer who had transported the EVD to America and Nigeria respectively.
HELP DIDN'T COME RIGHT AWAY. The World Health Organization was not in order. Those who had the means to help had certainly no experience in combating the virus.
LEADERS AROUND THE WORLD WERE PANICKING. Calls began to echo by their citizens for the issuance of a travel ban. Like a squealing dog whose tail had been cut by the carver's knife, Canada and Australia ignorantly barred citizens of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone from traveling to their respective countries.
IN THAT PROCESS, MANY WERE AFFECTED, including a Liberian journalist who had been accepted to study at a university in Squamish, British Columbia. No amount of platitudes to the Canadian government would have them to budge.
THERE WAS NOWHERE TO turn and certainly nowhere to twist. All hope seemed lost as one by one, Liberians and foreigners started to die.
AND SO ON BENDED KNEES with hands wailing in the air, we went to the rest of the world seeking help to end our calamity which had befallen us.
IN TANDEM RESPONSE TO OUR CALLS, they answered swiftly. President Obama ordered the US military to troop in and save the day. They came in tow with all the necessary logistics to wade through the kinks of the virus.
THE CHINESE, TOO, CAME calling with a battalion of the People Liberation Army (PLA) who set up a camp like a hospital at the SKD Stadium.
AS DONOR SUPPORT POURED IN which led to the waning of the virus and eventually ending its lifespan, many logistics were stored up for a rainy day.
HOWEVER, SOME OF THESE logistics started to disappear, beginning with the many ambulances who sirens blared the city throughout. Today not many can be found around.
BUT MOST RECENTLY WHAT caught our attention is the PPEs which are now being sold on the market as a raincoat.
WE FIND THIS REPUGNANT, TO say the least, because though Ebola is no longer in Liberia, God forbids, there can be another outbreak due to, because of our weak health systems.
HOW DID THE PPEs get to leave the warehouses? Who are those in charge of these warehouses? Who are they conniving with?
These are pertinent questions the Ministry of Health needs to answer.
LIBERIA IS NOT YET OUT OF THE woods of Ebola when our health systems are not strong enough to battle an outbreak of any kind. And yet the weapons we have to fight for any imminent battle are being sold for cheap.
THE REALITY OF EBOLA HAS been lost on us. How soon we forget our recent past and act that all is well.
