Phebe Builds Lassa Fever Center

-Launches Eye Clinic

By Esau J. Farr

In an effort to ease the tension both hospital staff and patients go through in identifying and treating Lassa fever sickness in Liberia, the administration of the Phebe Hospital has constructed a center for Lassa fever treatment.

Lassa fever is an acute (severe) viral hemorrhagic illness caused by Lassa virus, a member of the arena virus family of viruses. It is transmitted to human from contacts with food or household items contaminated with rotten excreta and it is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.

The disclosure was made recently by the Medical Director of the Phebe Hospital and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Phebe School of Nursing, Dr. Jefferson Sibley to this paper in an exclusive interview.

According to him, seeing patients to stay for days to await lab results from neighboring Sierra Leone is something unbearable and embarrassing.

“When the center is completed and officially opened to the public, we will no longer have to tell patients to wait here or go home and wait for results as it has been done in the past. This is actually due to the fact that the test is being done outside of Liberia in Kenema, Sierra Leone on specimens collected from patients and results are sent to us before a determination is made in treating the patients involved,” Dr. Sibley said.

But with the presence and availability of the center at Phebe and testing machine, tests are expected to be conducted with results expected in thirty (30mins) minutes and treatments prescribed, that’s according to Dr. Sibley.

In another development, the Optical Unit (Comprehensive Eye Center) at the Phebe Hospital is encouraging people suffering from sight problems to go to the center and tested before buying and using any glasses.

According to the Program Manager of the One Sight at the Phebe Eye Center, testing before the use of any sight glasses is the safest way to help people with sight problems.

“One important advice or message I have for our people who have fracture error (sight problem) is to come to the eye center here in Phebe or anywhere possible to be tested, given the needed glasses to avoid using just any kind of glasses that may increase their conditions,” C. Allison Paygar warned.

Mr. Paygar said the Comprehensive Eye Clinic as it is called was launched in November 2018 and has since been taking care of the needs of short sighted individuals and persons with different eye deficiencies within the health central region of Liberia which comprises of Bong, Lofa and Nimba Counties.

“We have different categories of glasses that suit the various conditions of our people and so in order to be on the safe side, one needs to first be tested and then we give them the corresponding glasses that agree with their conditions to be purchased with affordable prices,” the One Sight Program Manager stressed. He clarified that the fees being charged for glasses are meant to replace glasses sold so that the center will not go short of stock. TNR