Beds at Ebola treatment units empty in Liberia

By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH Associated Press

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Even as Liberians fall ill and die of Ebola, many beds in treatment centers are empty because of the government's order that the bodies of all suspected Ebola victims in the capital be cremated, authorities have determined.

Cremation violates values and cultural practices in the western African country. The order has so disturbed people that the sick are often kept at home and, if they die, are being secretly buried, increasing the risk of more infections.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia decreed in August that the bodies of Ebola victims in the Monrovia area be cremated. The government brought in a crematorium and hired experts. The order came after people in neighborhoods of the capital resisted burials of hundreds of Ebola victims near their homes.

A recent analysis of bed space at Ebola treatment units concluded that out of 742 spaces, 351 were occupied and 391 were vacant, said Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who heads the government's Ebola response.

"For fear of cremation, do not stay home to die," Nyenswah urged Liberians at a news conference.

In her statement declaring the state of emergency and the cremation order, Sirleaf said: "Ebola has attacked our way of life."

That way of life includes honoring deceased ancestors.

In March, the second Wednesday of the month is National Decoration Day, a public holiday during which people flock to cemeteries to clear brush from the graves of relatives, and scrub and decorate headstones.

Cremations in the capital, and burials of Ebola victims in body bags outside Monrovia without relatives present, means there won't be a place to honor deceased relatives. Decoration days will come with many people not knowing where the remains of their loved ones are, or knowing they were cremated and that their ashes were not recovered.

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Beds at Ebola treatment units empty in Liberia