Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sacked 10 senior officials because they failed to heed a warning to return from overseas travel to help the government’s fight against an Ebola epidemic that has killed at least 1,100 Liberians.
The officials, who include six assistant ministers, two deputy ministers and two commissioners, were dismissed with immediate effect for being “out of the country without an excuse,” according to a statement from the president’s office.
They were initially told last month to return to Liberia.
Photo: AFP
“These government officials showed insensitivity to our national tragedy and disregard for authority,” said the statement released late on Saturday.
It did not make clear what role the government expected the officials to play in the response to the crisis, or why they were out of the country.
Ebola was first discovered in eastern Guinea in March and has since killed more than 2,400 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, making it the worst Ebola outbreak the world has seen.
The WHO has warned that the epidemic is spreading exponentially in Liberia, where more than half of the deaths have been recorded. It has said that thousands are at risk of contagion in the coming weeks.
Sirleaf on Saturday appealed to US President Barack Obama for urgent aid in tackling Ebola.
In other developments, Obama is expected to detail today a plan to boost the US’ involvement in mitigating the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The plan would involve a greater involvement of the US military in tackling the worst recorded outbreak of the Ebola virus, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the proposal.
The US government has already committed about US$100 million to tackle the outbreak by providing protective equipment for healthcare workers, food, water, medical and hygiene equipment.
Obama could ask the US Congress for an additional US$88 million to fund his proposal, the Journal reported.
Plan details are expected during Obama’s visit today to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur will send more than 20 million medical rubber gloves to five African nations battling Ebola, addressing a crucial shortage faced by overwhelmed health workers, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced yesterday.
“Malaysia can make a unique and vital contribution to the fight against Ebola because we are one of the biggest manufacturers of rubber gloves,” a Malaysian government spokesperson said in a statement.
In related news, the first Sierra Leonean female doctor to be diagnosed with Ebola died on Sunday, two government sources said.
Olivette Buck was head of the Lumley Health Center in a densely populated suburb west of the capital, Freetown. She tested positive for the virus on Tuesday last week, apparently contracting it as she treated an Ebola patient. Buck was the fourth Sierra Leonean doctor to die of Ebola. Her death adds to the toll of 144 healthcare workers who have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to Sept. 7 figures from the WHO.
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