Empty Ebola Clinics in Liberia Are Seen as Misstep in U.S. Relief Effort

NEW YORK TIMES  by NORIMITSU ONISHI                                                        April 12, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia — As bodies littered the streets and the sick lay dying in front of overwhelmed clinics last year, President Obama ordered the largest American intervention ever in a global health crisis, hoping to stem the deadliest Ebola epidemic in history.

A drop in Ebola cases in Liberia lessened the need for treatment units such as this Defense Ministry center. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

But after spending hundreds of millions of dollars and deploying nearly 3,000 troops to build Ebola treatment centers, the United States ended up creating facilities that have largely sat empty: Only 28 Ebola patients have been treated at the 11 treatment units built by the United States military, American officials now say.

Nine centers have never had a single Ebola patient.

“My task was to convince the international organizations, ‘You don’t need any more E.T.U.s,’ ” said Dr. Hans Rosling, a Swedish public health expert who advised Liberia’s health ministry, referring to Ebola treatment units.

....American officials point out that building treatment centers made sense given the epidemic’s trajectory when the decision was made.

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