Western nations mistreating Ebola ‘heroes’: UK charity
FREETOWN: The head of a leading British charity hit out Sunday at western nations for quarantining health worker “heroes” returning from Ebola-hit West Africa and refusing visas to people from the worst-hit countries.
Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth, on a trip to Sierra Leone, singled out immigration rules imposed by Canada and Australia and measures by some US states that quarantine medics who have treated infected patients.
“It is very important that nurses and doctors from abroad come to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea easily and also leave and return to their home country for rest without the threat of being quarantined,” he said.
Experts say quarantining medical professionals who have shown no symptoms of the virus is counter-productive and could deter other workers from helping contain West Africa’s Ebola crisis.
In a case, which attracted international criticism, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie kept a nurse in an isolation tent for three days after she flew back from Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile the nurse who successfully fought Maine’s quarantine for health care workers who have treated Ebola patients says she had no option but to challenge how medical professionals were being treated.
Kaci Hickox says in an interview with the Maine Sunday Telegram she was fighting for the rights of other US medical workers who are trying to bring the deadly outbreak under control in West Africa.
Authorities in Sierra Leone say another doctor there has tested positive for Ebola, marking a setback for efforts to keep desperately needed health care workers safe.