A medical worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said that health workers who resumed work on Monday came to meet the patient but were scared due to the Ebola disease.
An accident victim who was rushed to the the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yenagoa on Monday reportedly died for lack of medical attention, as health workers declined to attend to the patient who passed away early Tuesday.
According to investigations by Sahara Reporters, the death has been traced to the fear of Ebola amongst health professionals at the facility.
Mr. Bernard Akpedi, Public Relations Officer at the FMC, had confirmed on Tuesday that medical services were restored to the hospital following the suspension of strike by non-medical workers on Monday, but asserted that the death had nothing to do with the Ebola virus.
On August 12, 2014, the workers, under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions, embarked on an indefinite strike over outstanding promotion arrears.
According to Akpedi, the victim, a middle-aged woman,was brought to the hospital by good samaritans, and that her condition was being managed by the hospital before her death.
However the health workers, including doctors on duty at the casualty unit of the hospital, said that there were no protective kits to handle the patient, who remained in pain.
A medical worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said that health workers who resumed work on Monday came to meet the patient but were scared due to the Ebola disease. “Nobody had the courage to help the victim especially as we did not have any idea of the case history, and we did not have the necessary protection to handle this type of case. Nobody wanted to take unnecessary risk."
The health worker furthered: “Our safety has to be guaranteed first because no one can endanger his life, that is the truth about it we just resumed from strike yesterday and one of the issues under contention was our paltry hazard allowance of N5,000 Naira, amongst other issues. Who will risk his or her life for N5,000?"
It was also gathered that the morticians were hesitant to handle the remains of the patient until a senior official of the hospital intervened.
Speaking on the scare, Dr. Ebitimi Etebu, a member of Bayelsa Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease, said that the state was adequately prepared to contain the outbreak of the disease.
He urged members of the public to disregard rumours of the disease spreading to Bayelsa.
He said that a suspected case which had symptoms similar to that of Ebola was found to be otherwise.
“There is no cause for alarm, the one suspected case at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital which presented symptoms similar to Ebola turned out negative."
He further added that medical emergency crews were able to identify and properly report suspected cases to monitoring centers. “Ambulance workers have been trained and ready to convey any suspected case to the designated surveillance centers. There is no other pending case,” Etebu said.