A team of police personnel led by the newly-transferred Local Unit Commander (LUC) James Philip John Conteh has visited various checkpoints mounted in the Kenema district for the screening of people for the Ebola virus.
According to LUC Conteh, the purpose of the visit was to do on-the-spot check on how the booths were constructed and the working relationship between the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and the Health Workers.
He said the visit also enabled him to get update from the team whether the people are complying with the health workers by going through the screening exercise at those checkpoints without hindrance. LUC Conteh maintained that the tour will help him to know some of the challenges faced by his officers at the various checkpoint, so that he will use his office to address some of those challenges.
He informed the public that the work of the police at the screening centers is to assist the health workers to screen those who may refuse to go through the screening process.
The Local Unit Commander however commended the police and the medical team for being on top of the situation at the various checkpoints, as this will help to reduce the spread of the Ebola virus in other communities.
He advised the passengers who ply the road to observe the key messages of preventing and containing the Ebola diseases. Among the checkpoints the LUC and his team visited include Moala on the Kenema Liberia highway, Bandama in Kenema and Freetown highway, Combema checkpoint on Kenema Segbwema highway, Hangha and Mano Junction checkpoints on Kenema Tongo highway.
Meanwhile, a member of the Community Relations Department (CRD) in the police media unit Kenema Division, Brima James Musa has informed the general public about the role of the police in the fight against the Ebola virus in the region. He said the effort of the police is to support the medical team in eradicating the spread of the Ebola virus in the country. Musa says one of the ways the police can assist the health officers is by mounting checkpoints at strategic areas in the district, so that passengers and drivers will go through the medical screening at those checkpoints.
The police media officer maintained that the constitutional mandate of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) is to protect lives and property of the people in the country, adding that the mounting of those checkpoints is out of the executive power that was given to the police to carry out in the fight against the Ebola virus in the country.
Musa pointed out that the police are there to protect the health officers in exercising their duties. And that anybody who attempts to obstruct the work of the health workers will be arrested and charge to court. The media officer appealled to all citizens to comply with the laws set in the fight against Ebola epidemic
By Saffa Moriba
Friday July 18, 2014