The family Nigeria’s fourth Ebola victim, late Ms. Justina Ejelonu has cried out over the barrage of discrimination they face as a result of her death from the dreaded disease. They disclosed this in a phone conversation with Saharareporters.
Oyinye Lovelyn Anugwolu, the elder sister of late Justina who works for Women NGO in Enugu says her husband, sisters, parents are facing unbearable stigma and public humiliation.
She told Saharareporters that people now treat family members as if they are all carriers of Ebola. Her husband she says has been sent on compulsory leave from work out of fear that he is might have contracted the deadly Ebola disease.
“I haven’t seen her since October last year,” Mrs. Anugwolu says, “We are not in contact.”
Mrs. Anugwolu revealed that her sister did not spend her last days in Enugu but in Lagos where she died and was buried without the family. She also complained that her sister’s last days were gruesome. According to Mrs. Anugwolu, the government neglected her and other victim of Ebola. She told Saharareporters that her sister was denied water the day before she died because healthcare workers were not willing to go in and serve her and others suffering in the quarantine center at Yaba area of lagos.
“Wherever my sister is, her soul will be at peace for bringing her plight to illuminate and force the government to act on Ebola” she says.