For the first time since a man died of Ebola virus in Lagos, First Consultants Medical Center, the hospital where Mr Patrick Sawyer died has been speaking about all it did to ensure that the spread of the disease was curtailed, and the infection rate eliminated.
The hospital admitted Mr. Sawyer came with symptoms suggestive of malaria; the symptoms were fever, headache and extreme weakness.
The hospital said that even as the victim was confirmed positive for malaria, but came out negative for hepatitis, B and C and HIV tests, it started to conduct further tests since Mr Sawyer was not responding to treatment and was developing hemorrhage symptom.
The statement added that although Mr Sawyer denied being in contact with any person with Ebola, it decided to test him for Ebola, bearing in mind that the victim was coming in from Liberia, where there has been an outbreak of the disease.
First Consultant Medical Clinic said that it immediately quarantined the patient and commenced barrier nursing and simultaneously contacted the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health for additional laboratory test based on its suspicion of Ebola.
First Consultants Medical Center added that it resisted immense pressure to let out Mr Sawyer from its hospital in spite of insistence that the Ebola victim had an important role to play at the ECOWAS convention in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
According to the hospital, the initial results from LUTH laboratory showed a signal of possible Ebola virus, but required confirmation.
First Consultant said that it then went further to reach senior officials in the Office of the Secretary of Health of the USA who assisted it with contacts at the Centre for Disease Control and W.H.O Regional Laboratory Centre in Senegal.
The hospital added that working with the state, federal and international agencies, it was able to obtain confirmation of Ebola virus disease, (Zaire strain).
According to the hospital, the gentleman subsequently died at 6:50AM on July 25 and all agencies were properly notified.
The hospital went ahead to temporarily shut down its facility with the immediate evacuation of in-house patients and also removed and incinerated the body under W.H.O guidelines, witnessed by all appropriate agencies.
“In keeping with W.H.O guidelines, the hospital is shut down briefly as full decontamination exercise is currently in progress. The re-opening of the hospital will also be in accordance with its guidelines”, the hospital said.
