Encomium
FIRST Consultant Medical Centre, the hospital where the Liberian Patrick Sawyer died after being diagnosed of the dreaded Ebola virus is yet to re-open. The medical centre at Ikoyi, Lagos, was under lock when ENCOMIUM Weekly visited there on Friday, August 1, 2014.
The closure, we gathered, was on the order of the Lagos State government. Not only was the place closed down, the management of the hospital has also embarked on a comprehensive renovation of the property where they operate from. The two-storey property with red bricks shares borders with UBA on St. Gregory Road, Ikoyi, Lagos and Aliyu Atta Building, Obalende, Lagos.
Normal business activities around the place went on regardless of the incident which is still being talked about. There are vendors who display their wares around the hospital. One of them who volunteered to speak with us disclosed there hasn’t been any panic around the place since the incident.
“As you can see, things are normal around here. Everybody here knows about the Ebola victim who died in the hospital last week. That has not in any way scared people away from this vicinity. After the man died, the hospital management brought out his laptop, mattress and other belongings and burnt them all in our presence here.”
We were also told that some of the workers in the hospital have been examined to ascertain their health status.
Patrick Sawyer died at First Consultants Medical Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos after he was diagnosed of Ebola virus. The deceased, who worked for the Liberian government was in Nigeria to attend a conference in Calabar, Cross River State. Upon his arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, he reportedly suffered severe vomiting and diarrhea and was ferried to the hospital in Ikoyi, Lagos. He died after five days in First Consultants Medical Centre. His body was cremated shortly after he was confirmed dead on Friday, July 25, 2014.
The late Sawyer did not only come to Nigeria to attend the Calabar conference, he also had plans to attend his daughter’s birthday in the US. He planned to go to the US from Nigeria immediately after the conference in Calabar, Cross River State.
Sawyer and his wife, Decontee, 34, are both from Liberia but US citizens. They are blessed with three children, all girls (Eva, five; Mia, four and Bella, one). They are residents of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, USA. Sawyer is the first American to die of the dreaded Ebola virus. His wife, Decontee is said to be devastated and shocked at the thought of how her late husband couldn’t return home in the US for their daughter’s birthday. Decontee reportedly learned her late husband was sick with Ebola on July 24, 2014, and on July 25, 2014, she learnt her husband had passed on.
First Consultants released statement
On Thursday, July 31, 2014, First Consultants Medical Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos, released a statement detailing how they handled the first Ebola case in Nigeria.
The statement signed by the Medical Director, Dr. B. N. Ohiaeri and the Senior Consultant Physician, Dr. A. S. Adedevoh reads:
“A 40 year-old gentleman came into the hospital with symptoms suggestive of malaria on Sunday night (July 20, 2014). He was fully conscious and gave us his clinical history and told us he is a senior diplomat from Liberia. Laboratory investigations confirmed malaria whilst other tests HIV, Hepatitis B and C were negative. He was admitted and treatment commenced.
“However, due to the fact that he was not responding to treatment but was developing haemorrhegic symptoms, we further questioned him. He denied having been in contact with any person with Ebola virus at home, in any hospital or at any burial. In spite of his denial, we immediately decided to do the following:
1 To conduct further tests for possible infectious Haemorrhegic disease, especially Ebola virus disease, based on the fact that he was a Liberian.
2 We immediately isolated/quarantined the patient, commenced barrier nursing and simultaneously contacted the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health to enquire where further laboratory tests could be performed as we had a high index of suspicion of possible Ebola virus disease.
3 We refused him to be let out of the hospital in spite of intense pressure as we were told that he was a senior ECOWAS official and had an important role to play at the ECOWAS convention in Cross River State.
4 The initial test results from LUTH laboratory indicated a signal of possible Ebola virus, but required confirmation.
5 We then took the further step of reaching out to senior officials in the office of the Secretary of Health of the United States of America, who promptly assisted us with contacts at the centres for disease control and World Health Organisation.
6 Working jointly with the state, federal agencies and international agencies, we were able to obtain confirmation of Ebola virus disease.
7 The gentleman subsequently died on Friday, July 25, 2014 at 6.50 a.m.
“…We, thereafter commenced a temporary shut-down of the hospital with immediate evacuation of in-house patients, the appropriate removal of the body and its incineration as witnessed by all appropriate agencies.”
