TAPPITA, Nimba – As tensions brew between Tappita residents and the administration of the Jackson F. Doe Hospital over the authenticity of COVID-19 cases being reported from the city, Rep. Samuel Kogar is urging citizens to exercise restraint.
The Voice of Tappita radio station has emerged as a battleground for the two sides, as representatives for the respective causes have taken to the station to air out their grievances.
The situation was inflamed on May 1, 2020 when officials at the 14 Military Hospital released the Tappita journalist Jeremiah Gayflor after he tested negative twice for the virus. Many Tappita residents, mostly women and children, misconstrued what Gayflor’s release meant and took to the street to celebrate. They assumed that their relatives, who Gayflor came in contact with, would now be released from precautionary observation centers. The journalist himself did not help the situation, as he has said he does not believe that the Coronavirus is in Tappita, although he admits COVID-19 is in Liberia. Gayflor’s belief stems from the fact that he was asymptomatic when he contracted the virus.
The joyous residents broke into two precautionary observation centers in Tappita, hugging people who were quarantined at the centers, and chanting slogans that suggested the virus was not in Tappita and that the hospital was lying about the existence of the virus in the city. The incident caused armed police to be sent to the city.
Prior to the quarantine facilities being overrun, a group of Tappita youth had written the Nimba County Legislative Caucus requesting the dismissal of several officials of the hospital for poorly managing Coronavirus cases in the area. One resident, Mangou Wehyee, also threatened a lawsuit against the hospital’s chief executive officer, Dr. Saygbay Vanyabah, for branding Tappita residents as “half-educated people.” Additionally, Wehyee said the hospital endangered the lives of the public by initially releasing Gayflor into the community before the results of his first test had returned from the National Reference Laboratory.
Representing the legislative caucus, Kogar addressed the issues on the Voice of Tappita. He cautioned that the incident was sending a negative image of Tappita, Nimba, and Liberia to the outside world.
Kogar added that Tappita residents’ doubting of the existence of the virus in their community was worrisome. He urged them to respect the reports from the nurses and doctors in the area, warning that the current conflict could impede the fight against the virus in Tappita District.
“No politician will confirm whether someone has the virus or not,” he said. “It is only the health workers, so we all need to respect them. The medical people are the only ones clothed with the authority to say who is sick or not, so we all need to stick to the health advice to save our county and country.”
Kogar called on the public, particularly those under quarantine, to cooperate with health workers by giving their specimen to be tested for the virus.
Meanwhile, the administrator of the Jackson Fiah Doe Hospital, Abraham Jusu, says the hospital wants to rebuild its relationship with the community. He announced plans for a dialogue at the end of the Coronavirus outbreak that will bring the hospital and the community together to reconcile for the common good of Tappita and Liberia.
Jusu encouraged the public to visit the hospital whenever they are in need of information and called on all citizens to join the fight to eradicate COVID-19 from Tappita and Liberia.
Featured photo by Jerry Myers
