Certainly, none of the people waiting patiently in the conference room of the Lagos State Ministry of Health for the arrival of the commissioners for health, Dr Jide Idris; information and strategy, Lateef Ibirogba, and special duties, Wale Ahmed, had the faintest idea of what the atmosphere would later turn into once the survivors of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) came into the room.
The invitation was to witness the handing over of support cheque to the management of First Consultants Hospital, Obalende, which had played key role in the containment of Ebola and paid the utmost prize of losing four of its staff.
Dr Idris, however, announced that the purpose of the gathering was not only to support First Consultants Hospital for its effort in the containment of the disease but that, “certain things must go on, especially life beyond Ebola, for all the survivors and families of the victims who paid the supreme sacrifice.”
He said: “Yes, we have been able to successfully contain the number of human casualties in the spread of the disease. After that, we have agreed not to dismantle what we have put in place for that purpose but beyond that, we have agreed that as a government, we must also address the economic issue that followed the Ebola Virus.”
He added: “We had 20 cases all over the country out of which eight died, two in Port Harcourt and six in Lagos, and there were 12 survivors, which was a plus to us.
“However, those survivors are still facing some losses apart from the loss of their loved ones; they are being stigmatised by the community and that is because the people themselves do not even understand what the disease is all about.”
The commissioner said the government is worried about the continued stigmatisation of the survivors despite the fact that so much is going into educating and enlightening the populace.
He described the survivors and their loved ones that died as “heroes and heroines of the containment activity and so, there is no need for them to be stigmatised; in fact, we should celebrate them.
“The governor some time ago invited some of them to his office to demonstrate his support for them and commiserated also with them because as a government we know what they are truly going through.
“Shortly after that, we also visited the First Consultant Hospital to demonstrate our support and, even made presentations outside the shores of the country to showcase what we did and everyone everywhere celebrated us,” said Idris.
He said the US Disease Control department was shocked to learn that what Nigeria did with the late Sawyer’s case was quite different from what they did with the late Duncan who entered the United States the same way Sawyer did and caused similar crisis.
“However, First Consultants Hospital, which bore the brunt of the disease, has not been able to get back their group again; hence, one of the things we decided to do as a government is to show them some support because there is no way we can fully compensate the hospital or the survivors or families of the survivors for their loss.
“We can only show them that we care and appreciate what they all did, and we would not forget them in anyway,” Idris said.
According to him, “Although we have supported the hospital financially, we hope to still continue to lend our assistant where and whenever it is necessary to do so, because we honestly believe that all of us must move on and put Ebola behind us, though not forgetting the lessons we have learnt, some of which include strengthening our weak health systems, upgrading the infectious disease hospital, with the support we are already receiving from Bill Gates Foundation, to a full-fledged Research Centre for other diseases beside Ebola and others.”
And so, as a demonstration of the love and support to the hospital and 13 survivors and relations of the dead, a total of N76million was given to them at the brief ceremony.
In what was a sombre atmosphere, the Medical Director of the First Consultants Hospital, Dr Ben Ohiaeri, led the hospital team to receive the ceremonial cheque of N50million on behalf of the hospital and one after the other, the 13 survivors and relations of dead victims went forward to receive a cheque of N2million each.
It was a tearful Mrs. Rukayat Jatto, widow of the ECOWAS Protocol Officer, Abdulkadir Jatto, who is also nursing a 10-week-old baby girl, who stood up to receive the cheque of N2million.
As soon as Rukayat was called, her baby girl, Nana Hauwa Jatto, who was born in October two months after her father’s death, seemed to sense what was going on and began to cry, forcing her mother to shed tears.
The comment of Idris in empathising with Bankole Cardoso, son of the late Dr Stella Adadevoh, also drew some emotions when he said: “Your mum and I were classmates at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, and I can attest to her brilliance as a medical doctor and we are not surprised she saved the country, paying the supreme price. We promise we shall continue to support you, as a government.” Responding, Ohiaeri narrated how it all started with the arrival of the late Patrick Sawyer in the hospital on July 20, with presumed malaria fever and how the late Adadevoh was able to clinically diagnose it to be infectious haemorrhagic fever, which later turned out to be Ebola on laboratory test and how the late Sawyer hysterically went wild, asking to be discharged against medical advice. The infections later killed four great staff of the hospital.
Ohiaeri recalled how he himself alongside the late Drs Adadevoh and Stella Abaniwo had a clinical meeting in which Adadevoh, who had spent 21 years at the hospital convincingly, proved that Sawyer had Ebola and she was correct.
He, however, lamented the loss of the two consultants, Adadevoh and Abaniwo, which has greatly affected the hospital and how it is difficult getting their clientele back after the huge loss.
The arrival of the deadly EVD on the shores of Nigeria on July 20 was like the Biblical thief that silently crept in unannounced albeit its presence had been felt in some neighbouring countries before landing in the country.
It is no news that by the time this thief left the shores of the country, it not only left in its trail sorrow, blood and tears; it also left some indelible memories and lessons the country is not likely to forget.
But as Idris said, “though the country has been declared Ebola free, in the true sense, it is not over yet until it is over, for as long as we still have those situations in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and, even Mali, we all have to continue to be vigilant.
Source: DAILYINDEPENDENTNIG
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