Nigeria hospital staff flees from Ebola

Fear of Ebola: Hospital staff runs away

08/16/2014

More and more doctors and carers in Nigeria are fleeing the hospitals for fear of contracting the Ebola virus. At pressure from their families, many doctors have left their jobs. Only on Thursday was the fourth Ebola death in the most populous country in Africa confirmed.

Doctors and nurses flee hospitals
Fearing an infection with the Ebola virus, more and more doctors and nurses in Nigeria are fleeing the hospitals. Above all, the Yaba Mainland Hospital in Lagos, where several infected persons were lying on an isolation ward, was affected, as was the Nigerian daily newspaper „Punch“ according to a message from the news agency dpa reported. Numerous physicians had left the clinic to pressure from their families. Altogether, eleven Ebola cases have been confirmed in Africa's most populous country.

Nigeria's eleventh victim was a nurse
Only on Thursday had it become known that another patient had died as a result of the dangerous infectious disease. As Nigerian media report, it should be a young nurse. She allegedly had contact with a Liberian government advisor who had traveled to the metropolis of Lagos in July and collapsed at the airport.

Ebola sufferers can only wait for death
According to press reports, 169 people in Nigeria are under surveillance for Ebola suspicion, for example because they have typical Ebola symptoms. 163 of them in Lagos and six in Enugu. The latter cases would therefore go back to the nurse, who fled from quarantine in Lagos and traveled to the city, more than 500 kilometers to the east. Relatives and colleagues have spread in a press conference, why the nurse has left the quarantine. The report of the newspaper „Punch“ According to the Ebola sufferers „completely abandoned“. Neither would take care of them, nor treat them. They could just wait to die.

Medical strike lasts for over seven weeks
Another problem that is added is a medical strike that has been going on for more than seven weeks. Currently, the few remaining hospital staff are working around the clock to try to save the patient's life, it said. „Everyone seems to be very afraid of Ebola, and nobody wants to help, which is a big challenge“, said Local Health Commissioner Jide Idris. „The worst thing is on the quarantine station, many just ran away after the death of the nurse became known. "

Victim numbers could be much higher
Overall, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa could be far worse than previously thought. By August 13, there had officially been 2,127 confirmed and suspected cases and 1,145 deaths. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), higher numbers than previously known are to be assumed. The federal government has recently called all Germans to leave Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ebola suspicions last weekend in Hamburg and a few days ago in Frankfurt have not been confirmed. (Ad)