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One of the nurses that died in Lagos due to Ebola |
Families and friends of some of those affected by the Ebola virus are
crying out of total neglect by the Lagos State government.
Go there yourself and witness firsthand the condition under which they
are being taken care of,” Dr. Helen Boyo-Ekwueme charged at one of the
journalists inquiring about the welfare of the health workers battling with
Ebola, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
The atmosphere was tense. Relatives and professional colleagues of the
female medical doctor and other health workers, who contracted the disease from
the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, had gathered to brief journalists
at a press conference which held in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Boyo-Ekwueme, a pathologist, and one of the concerned relatives kept on
laying emphasis on the fact that the female medical doctor must not be left to
die.
Noting that the press conference was not called to trade blames with the
Federal Government or the Lagos State Government, she painted a picture of
utter neglect of the female doctor and her medical colleagues who have been
placed in isolation at the IDH.
The pathologist who claimed to have been to the IDH in company with
other family members and professional colleagues alleged that the Ebola
patients were not been properly looked after.
Arguing that proper basic treatment and immune boosting drugs that can
be of help to the patients were generally lacking, she concluded that only
“international help” could make them live a little longer.
She lamented, “We are not fighting anybody. We are simply giving voice
to the voiceless. Those people in isolation at the IDH cannot voice out these
concerns. Let them have basic treatment. It shouldn’t be as if we just stood
there and abandon them and watch them die one by one.
“They are human beings. That female doctor is a patriotic Nigerian and
she needs to be helped. You people (journalists) should go there and see the
surroundings where they are being treated. You would wonder if these are human
beings who still have relatives.
“They are just being left on their own. Nobody is counselling them. They
are just there as if they have been forgotten. We should remember that they
didn’t ask to contract Ebola and it can happen to anybody. We are appealing for
international help for these health workers.”
Spokesperson for the group of seven concerned family members and
colleagues of the Ebola victims, Dr. Ladi Okuboyejo, buttressed Boyo-Ekwueme’s
claims stating that people including medical personnel deployed were now
running away from the ailing victims.
Explaining that the Ebola outbreak was beyond the capacity of the scary
Nigerian physicians, Okuboyejo insisted that the conditions under which the
Ebola victims were being looked after was appalling.
Okuboyejo, a medical practitioner, stated that there was a dearth of
requisite drugs and basic medical supplies needed by the victims adding that
the poor general sanitary condition of the isolation facility was despicable.
“If a health facility doesn’t have light, doesn’t have water and the
sanitary system is not working properly then we have got a problem. Now the
patients are critically ill and their condition is getting worse by day.
People, including some medical personnel, are now running away from them.
“The reality is that the disease is beyond our capacity to handle in
this country. The international community needs to rise up to our aid. The
victims are not being properly treated. Forget that the Nigeria Medical
Association is on strike, we cannot handle it,” he stated.
But as the concerned associates of the Ebola victims lamented the state
of affairs with their loves ones at the press conference, a close family source
confided in one of our correspondents that the American doctor had been the one
personally footing the bill for the purchase of basic medical supplies for the
victims.
The family source who preferred anonymity stated that a long list of
medical and general need items presented to the authorities by the foreign
physician had yet to be supplied.
“Where is the $12m the Federal Government said it released to fight
Ebola. Remember that the matron and the ECOWAS protocol officer are already
dead. Do they want all of them to start dying one after the other,” the source
added.
As they took turns to address journalists, another immediate family
member of one of the patients, Deji Akinyanju, drew the microphones to himself
and began his own round of lamentation.
Akinyanju who declined to name her ailing relative, stated that the
feedbacks he has got from the isolation centre showed that the Ebola victims’
health was fast deteriorating.
He alleged that the Nigerian physicians working with the American WHO
expert were those with little or no experience in managing the highly
contagious disease.
With a note of disappointment in his voice, Akinyanju, who said he had
been visiting his critically ill relative at the IDH stated, that the WHO
expert have also highlighted the need for more experienced hands to help
salvage what remains of the health of the isolated health workers.
“There is a need for more medical personnel that will help look after
them. Certain immune booster could also have been easily given to them. We are
just concerned family members. But from what we have seen we think more can be
done to help them,” Akinyanju said.
When contacted, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris,
said the problem is due to the fact that the government have not been able to
get the necessary man power to take care of the isolation centre.
He said people are not coming forward to work at the place.He went on to
say that adequate infrastructure is being put in place to meet up with
international standard.
God is washing ooooo
ReplyDeleteI said this , the nurse was in neglect and not quarantine otherwise how could she have disappeared with no one detecting . We Nigerians are so wicked
ReplyDeleteGovernment should for once do what they say. Not coming out in the media to say a lot of things but they do nothing. but my dear Doctors, let me use this medium to plead with you to come up and help save lives. I remember the Health minister once said that they lack man power. he actually pleaded with the Doctors to come up and that they will be trained on how to handle the situation. please Doctors help save lives as Almighty God has called you to. To our Government, why have you not looked into the problems of our Doctors that made them to go on strike?
ReplyDeleteEven now that we are facing this great challenge. Are you still feeling proud? do you think that you can do it alone with Doctors outside your own workers? it's now that you should even triple their needs. REMEMBER NO ONE IS ABOVE EBOLA!