By Kemo Cham
An umbrella body of health reporters in Sierra Leone have called on the government to ensure proper coordination of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Health Reporters Network - Sierra Leone (HRN-SL) made the call as part of a report from its monitoring of the nationwide lockdown from April 5 to 7.
HRN-SL is a group of journalists drawn from across the media landscape of Sierra Leone – print and electronic – who report on health issues, with the goal of influencing quality service delivery. It says it strives to reach out to every community in the country with key health messages with the hope of positively changing lives.
As a Network, the group said it deployed a team of reporters across the country to observe the lockdown, with the goal of giving feedback to the public and the government to inform future responses to the pandemic.
While congratulating the people and government of Sierra Leone for their tremendous compliance to the measure, the group notes that there were a lot of room for improvement in subsequent lockdowns. Among about a dozen observations, it cited the large number of people who went out search for water across Freetown during the course of the three days. It also noted that transportation was not available for frontline health workers on the first day.
“There was visible poor level of coordination,” the statement, signed by HRNSL’s coordinator, Swaliho Vandi, reads
“Some security officers (police and military) put on uniform and moved around places where they were not assigned to. Some security personnel on duty failed to practice social distancing. This was visible in their pickup trucks,” it added.
The HJNSL also lamented the incidents of people beaten by security personnel for violating the lockdown. It also said some youths were seen in visible violation of the lockdown and they were in the streets drinking and smoking, citing two particular incidences at Forth Street and Regent Village.
The group urged the government to ensure the relevant bodies involved in the Covid-19 response efforts coordinate and communicate as team.
“There is need for proper coordination among the various players – health workers, the National Coronavirus Response Team, and psychosocial service providers,” it states, adding: “The government should also ensure that adequate transportation is provided for frontline health workers.”
“The security apparatus must ensure the protection of human rights of the people at all times. The National Coronavirus Response Team should make available officials and experts to provide information, where needed, during the course of the response efforts, especially during lockdowns,” it went on.
HNJSL is also concerned that passes were given to people who didn’t deserved, and it want this issue to be addressed. It also called for an understanding between the authorities and pharmacy owners so that pharmacy outlets are open to provide service to the people at all times and especially during lockdowns.
Copyright (c) 2020 Politico Online
