Lagos Ebola patients neglected, critically ill -Relatives, colleagues

Relatives and associates of the female medical doctor and other health
workers who contracted the Ebola Virus Disease from the late
Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, share the gloomy experiences of the
victims with PUNCH correspondents.

"Go there yourself and witness firsth and 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.

PUNCH