The World Health Organization has acknowledged that it has failed in its attempt to stop the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
In a draft document, WHO said that health experts should have comprehended that conventional infectious disease containment methods would not work in West Africa, a region with penetrable borders and weak health systems.
"Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall," WHO said in the document. "A perfect storm was brewing, ready to burst open in full force," it said, reports the Associated Press.
The U.N., health agency accepted that the organization's bureaucracy was a drawback. It mentioned that the chiefs of the organization's country offices in Africa were "politically motivated appointments" made by the WHO regional director for Africa, Luis Sambo.
Sambo, however, does not report to the WHO chief in Geneva, Margaret Chan, the document said.
The document also mentions an incident, when the head of the agency's Guinea office refused to help in getting visas for Ebola experts to go to that country. A $500,000 aid also was blocked due to administrative bumblings.
The WHO planned to publish the document this week but apparently has changed its mind, according to the Associated Press.
Dr. Peter Piot, the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, said Friday that WHO acted very slowly in responding to the outbreak, mainly because of its Africa office.
"It's the regional office in Africa that's the front line," he said at his office in London. "And they didn't do anything. That office is really not competent," he said, reports AP.
He also asked why WHO took five months and 1,000 deaths to declare Ebola as an international health emergency.
Meanwhile, President Obama's decision to appoint Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden as "Ebola Czar," has invited criticism from the country's lawmakers.
Representative Fred Upton, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said Obama should have appointed a person having a background in health care or infectious disease, according to Bloomberg.
Representative Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican, called Klain's selection "shocking and frankly tone deaf to what the American people are concerned about," reports Bloomberg.
