Fear, Panic Grip Medical Personnel Of Specialist Hospital In Rivers As Senior Doctor Dies Of Lassa Fever

 

Dr. Levi Njamala, a medical doctor in Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt has died after contracting Lassa fever from a female patient he conducted a caesarean operation on at the emergency unit of the hospital.

Panic has since gripped doctors, nurses, medical personnel and patients of the Hospital, located at old GRA, Port Harcourt, following the death of the senior doctor.

There are fears that other doctors, nurses and other medicare providers in the emergency unit who had first contact with the patient on emergency in the hospital may have all contracted the highly contagious viral disease.

Dr Levi Njamala of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology who took ill after the CS operation did not suspect he had contracted the deadly virus, until his fellow doctors tested him for Lassa fever virus which turned out positive. The Hospital authorities decided to take samples for further analysis to a Specialist Hospital for the treatment of Lassa fever virus in Irrua, Edo state. But before that could happen the doctor had died.

In the aftermath of Njamala’s death, patients and medical personnel of the hospital were hurriedly being discharged under the supervision of officials of the World Health Organization, Rivers State Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry of Health. Efforts have being made to quarantine those that had contact with Dr Levi Njamala. Medical services have also been temporarily suspended at the hospital due to the Lassa fever virus scare.