Nigeria may have been declared officially Ebola-free but at the First Consultants Medical Centre in Lagos, doctors believe it will take the facility that treated the first victim years to recover.

The 40-bed private clinic in the bustling Obalende area of the city paid a high price in the outbreak, after the first patient with the Ebola virus was admitted on July 20.

Not only has it taken a financial hit by having to replace every piece of potentially contaminated equipment, it also suffered the human loss of much-respected staff with decades of expertise.

“The most precious equipment in a hospital are the people. I lost four of my most important staff,” medical director Benjamin Ohiaeri told AFP.

“In the midst of this celebration (about Nigeria‘s Ebola-free status), people died… and it’s because of them that this place is a safer place today.”

Liberian finance ministry official Patrick Sawyer was brought to First Consultants on July 20 and died five days later, sparking fear about its spread through Africa’s most populous nation.

The haemorrhagic fever, which has killed more than 4,500 in West Africa so far this year, was not initially diagnosed for three days and in that time, Sawyer infected 11 staff members.
In the entire outbreak in Nigeria, 19 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus and seven died.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday hailed Nigeria‘s response to Ebola as a “spectacular success story”, saying every country should take note of how it handled the crisis.

Effective leadership and co-ordination were key to defying naysayers who feared the country, with its under-funded and ill-equipped public healthcare system, would struggle to cope.

For Ohiaeri, the most credit should go to Stella Adadevoh, his most senior doctor and the person he had expected to take charge after his planned retirement next year.

Adadevoh physically stopped Sawyer from leaving, despite pressure from Liberia, preventing
potentially thousands of people in crowded Obalende and beyond from becoming infected.

“He didn’t want to be treated. He pulled off his drip, he made sure that blood was everywhere, he did all kinds of things that were unspeakable and that’s when people got infected,” Ohiaeri said.

Adadevoh contracted Ebola and later died.

“She had been working with us for 21 years, one of the most brilliant physicians you’d have ever met. Humble, diligent, brilliant, I had always trusted her,” said Ohiaeri.

“How do you replace someone like that?”

After Sawyer’s death, the entire hospital had to be decontaminated and every piece of equipment, from the emergency room and laboratory to washing machines in the laundry, had to be replaced.
The clinic, which the US-trained Ohiaeri founded in 1982, was shut for two months, running up losses into millions of dollars.

First Consultants, though, also faces an uphill battle to regain the trust of patients, with the stigma of Ebola still present despite Nigeria‘s official all-clear.

The hospital may be open and immaculately clean but patient numbers are down 10-fold, while some of its doctors and nurses who survived Ebola say they are still treated with mistrust.

The four children of one nurse who had worked for 31 years at First Consultants and died from the virus were evicted from their home and the hospital had to find them emergency accommodation.

Dennis Akhaga, whose wife was a nurse and also died from the virus, said he met rejection in his community, including being refused access to shops.

He even lost his job with a Nigerian oil firm when his employer found out that his wife had died from Ebola.

Now, just as they were on the frontline of fighting Ebola in Nigeria, the medics say they want to help lead an awareness campaign about the virus.

“There’s a need to let people know more about this,” said Akinniyi Fadipe, a 29-year-old medical officer, who caught Ebola from Sawyer, survived and is now back at work.

“The same thing happened for HIV, too. Now, if you see someone with HIV, you won’t be scared because you know you can’t catch HIV like that.”

The hospital is steadily trying to get back to normal, with Nigeria told to remain on high alert while the spread of the virus continues in the West African region.

Ohiaeri said the time was now right for Nigeria and others to help them, particularly financially, with other hospitals watching their situation closely.

“It needs to be put out there that how we are treated is very important going forward,” he added.


ThisDay

God bless Stell Adedavoh

Its a no brainer that First Consultants would be stigmatised by the Ebola incidence but I believe they'll bounce back.

These are the people that the State and Federal Governments should focus on helping instead of going round the world beating our chest and shamelessly lying that we were prepared for the Ebola outbreak.

LordReed:
Its a no brainer that First Consultants would be stigmatised by the Ebola incidence but I believe they'll bounce back.

Yes, it will take several months, if not a few years for First Consultant hospital to get that full patronage again. Ebola is one strange disease and though Nigeria has been given a clean bill, people still don't want to know. And in people's minds ebola started from First Consultant Hospital, hence the reluctance to go there.

texazzpete:
These are the people that the State and Federal Governments should focus on helping instead of going round the world beating our chest and shamelessly lying that we were prepared for the Ebola outbreak.

I agree with this. The government truly needs to help those who have lost their jobs as well as those who have been ejected from their residences. First Consultant also needs to get help from the FG as an addition to the #50m that LASG has given to them!

Godmother:



Yes, it will take several months, if not a few years for First Consultant hospital to get that full patronage again. Ebola is one strange disease and though Nigeria has been given a clean bill, people still don't want to know. And in people's minds ebola started from First Consultant Hospital, hence the reluctance to go there.

I doubt it will take years, I think in less than one year First Consultants will put this behind them. The Ebola fear is already dying out and it will soon recede from people's minds.

RockMaxi:




Seems you are not from Lagos, because for their mind over there that hospital remains Ebola hospital. Unless the name is changed. Even with that it will still take aggressive marketing and desensitization.

I may not live in Lagos now but I did before and I know First Consultants very well, from before they even moved to their current location. First Consultants is not a run of the mill clinic, they have established years of solid reputation. Ebola may be a big topic in minds right now but soon it will die off and First Consultants track record will speak for it. I know they will have to do some work though but it is not as dire as years.

@OP

Any ideas of a practical way that we can help from our different stations in life?

Cheers

I hope they get back non their feet. I thank God for the proffesionalism shown by the staff of the hospital. They saved this nation form a catastrophy. Thank God it wasn't a malaria typhoid hospital where they would have admitted the man with a huge bill and treat for malaria for 10 days thereby infecting others.


I am also greatful to God for the drs strike that period because had Mr sawyer landed in a govt hospital this wouldn't be the tale today as many more ( hospital staff/ patients) would have come in contact with him before the correct diagnosis was made.

All in all I believe that God favours Nigeria.

LordReed, I seriously doubt a year is what it will take. Is it not my naija brothers that I know. I personally wouldn't go close to that hospital for the next two years, if atall.