DIFFICULTIES OF CARE DURING THE EBOLA CRISIS

EMERGENCY Medical Coordinator in Sierra Leone, Luca Rolla, was profiled in a La Stampa news on article on Italian Ebola fighters. He explains the additional difficulties of care during the Ebola crisis:

“We take care of children in a country where it is forbidden to hug each other.”

“That photo [above] today would be impossible”. Luca Rolla has been in Sierra Leone since 2011. He managed the Pediatric Center and was able to take photos like this with his patients. This is no longer the case due to Ebola. “All contact is forbidden,” he explains, “and there are no hugs at all.” In June, in reaction to the risk of contagion, many government healthcare personnel stopped working. There remain only non-governmental organizations. “Our hospital in Goderich is the only one with operating rooms open. Today Freetown is the area most affected and safety procedures are crucial. But the virus has killed families and created new orphans: it is up to us to continue to operate and to cure.”