In the midst of this apprehension however, a woman displayed bravery. Dr Adedevoh discharged her duties without fear or favor. She defied the odds, upheld standard practice, spurned intimidations and threats from various powers and put her life on the line just to save Nigeria from an impending catastrophe! She and her team remained undaunted as they fight to contain a likely infectious disease!

 

Sometimes in July when Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) had taken virtually all attention and discussions of the World Health Organization (WHO), about the same time the world most populous black nation was about to be hit by this deadly and highly contagious virus. The good news however, was that the virus is not airborne and the disease cannot be transmitted during incubation period. As good as that sounds, palpable fear, trepidation and paranoia accompanies the mention of Ebola. In the wake of the epidemic in the region, somehow Nigeria was able to keep its own despite lack of a formidable frontier surveillance and weak port health vigilance, but this was not going to last forever, as a villain was about to capitalize on these inadequacies.

The news of a sick Liberian diplomat –Patrick Sawyer, being admitted in a top-notch private hospital in Lagos sends shivers down the spine of all Nigerians. Both the poor and the rich were concerned; the leaders and the governed were terrified as that would be the first case of the disease in Nigeria since almost 38years of its existence. There was paranoia all over the landscape not only because of the untold physical, social and emotional hardship Ebola was causing in countries where the epidemic was ongoing but also questions about the disease presents a rather scary answers. The case fatality is very high, treatment options is only palliative, progress in the current epidemic was minimal and worst still, the possibility of Ebola in this diplomat was very likely with positive travel history to Ebola infested country, history of close contact with Ebola patient and manifestation of classical symptoms and signs of Ebola.

In the midst of this apprehension however, a woman displayed bravery. Dr Adedevoh discharged her duties without fear or favor. She defied the odds, upheld standard practice, spurned intimidations and threats from various powers and put her life on the line just to save Nigeria from an impending catastrophe! She and her team remained undaunted as they fight to contain a likely infectious disease! After few days, Sawyer’s blood sample sent to Senegal came back positive for Ebola virus, some days later he died. The doctors and other health care workers who attended to him became infected and the reality was dawn on all Nigerians –Ebola is here!

Nigerians were disappointed. They blamed Sawyer for being callous and wittingly spreading the virus. The health sector got its share of the rage because doctors in all public health facilities nationwide were on strike and as such public health hospitals were not functioning optimally in the wake of the epidemic. Airport and port health officers were not excused also, they were practically uninformed and not sensitive enough to detect and prevent Sawyer from entering Lagos. No infectious disease expert, no quarantine stations and worst still no infra-red thermometers to detect high temperature amongst travelers. As it were, the port health service was incapacitated! Ignorance of the disease was widespread, fear was in abundance and logical reasoning became impossible for most folks. Before long, Nigerians became trapped in mediocrity, as some villains had hijacked the panic to dispel false and unfounded myth on prevention and cure of Ebola. The “salt and water” hoax and the bitter kola ‘magic’ were cases in point. Sadly, quite a number of people lost their lives in the process and became victims of ‘fear of the unknown’.

The singular act of Dr Adedevoh had limited spread of the virus only to primary contacts of the index patient and coupled with world class epidemiological intelligence, efficient contact tracing and painstaking surveillance put up by the leadership of the former Governor of Lagos State; Babatunde Fashola, Ebola was not going to breathe in Nigeria for too long. Suddenly Nigerians began to align. Public Health advocates started using social media to provide accurate information on Ebola, toll-free number were made available to report any suspected case, banks and hotels started using infrared thermometers to screen for fever, orderliness returned to crowded bus stops and shopping malls and President’s display of hand sanitization technique on National Television leaves Nigerians with no doubt about the importance of hygiene in the fight against the disease.

Sooner than we thought, some contacts (mainly health care workers) began to succumb to the disease. Quite pathetic was the newly employed, pregnant nurse who just resumed at the hospital. She contracts the disease and died in the process. Nigeria’s heroine was also caught in this Ebola web. This was well captured by Dr Ada Igonoh in her story “she was in coma, receiving IV fluids and oxygen support and closely monitored by WHO doctors. It was difficult seeing in that state. I could not bear it. She was my consultant, my boss, my teacher and my mentor. She was the imperial lady of First Consultant, full of passion, energy and competence. I imagine she would wake up and see that she was surrounded by First Consultant family but sadly it was not to be”. It was a national tragedy and the country mourned her demise.

While Nigeria was on track as regards Ebola containment, certain unscrupulous doctor in Port Harcourt was incubating another Ebola infected diplomat in a hotel. His motive for doing this was not clear but what was obvious was that, the action could start another cascade of the dwindling epidemic and sabotage the combined heroism of First Consultant Hospital and Lagos State Government. That did not happen though, as the brewing ‘fire’ was duly nip in the bud.

At exactly three months after the invasion in July, Nigeria was declared Ebola free on 20th October 2014. Here we are, one year down the line and it seems we haven’t learnt much. What structures do we have in place to prevent a repeat of that Ebola experience? Have we strengthened our health system in anyway? How many indigenous Ebola vaccine trials are currently on-going in Nigeria? Are public health hospitals free from incessant strikes? Until we get the basis right, an efficient and effective health system will continue to elude us.

Guinea and Sierra Leone are yet to record zero Ebola case in over 20months of this epidemic. Liberia was declared Ebola free in May but is now experiencing ‘resurgence’ after a lucid period of about 2months. The risk seems to be mounting; building a resilient health system is a must if the region wants to prevent future epidemics and the time to begin is now!

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Charles T. Olomofe (M.B.Ch.B) is a Health and Behavioral Change Advocate

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.