Reopens emergency unit
THE Management of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) has commended the Federal Government for its prompt intervention on the news of alleged Ebola scare just as the Accident and Emergency (A and E) unit of the hospital has been reopened.
On October 7, 2015, the admission and eventual death of a 21-year-old undergraduate of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) had raised Ebola scare in the hospital as nurses and doctors panicked leading to the quarantine of 15 members of staff and eight others for three days.
However, the Federal Government last week released the final report of the last test of a suspected victim’s sample and it was negative.
The Chief Medical Director of UCTH, Dr. Thomas Agan, in a chat with some newsmen in Calabar yesterday said the attention given to the hospital on the alleged outbreak of Ebola is a demonstration of importance the Presidency pays to public health in the country.
He said: “We are delighted at the prompt attention given to the hospital on getting wind of the news and the immediate dispatch of team of experts. This is an indication of importance the Presidency pays to public healthcare delivery. Besides, the maturity with which the Ministry of Health collaborated effectively and harmoniously with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and WHO in handling the alleged reported case as well as subsequent decontamination of Accident and Emergency unit of the hospital is worthy of commemoration.”
Meanwhile, the A and E unit of the hospital has been reopened as the 15 medical members of staff and eight others quarantined or isolated were released on October 10 at the instance of the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Dr. Queeneth Kalu. The A and E unit was reopened on October 12 for full medical services after the entire premises and its environment were decontaminated.
The medical personnel, who were isolated but kept inside the building for three days, could not be immediately traced as the hospital management had given them some days off to recover from the shock of the three days trauma in isolation without contact with the outside world except the food the hospital management arranged for them.
Eyewitnesses, who saw when the suspected Ebola patient was admitted and equally saw when the isolated members of staff of the hospital were released, said they were excited to be out as one of them shouted, “God, I thank you it was not Ebola. What would have happened to us?”
One of the eyewitnesses and a member of staff of the hospital said: “One of them is my friend. It was a horrible experience for us. But since it is our work, we had to take it. We missed our families but we thank God it was not Ebola because so many people would have been involved.”
