The Rivers State Commissioner for
Health, Dr. Samson Parker, says the late Dr. Samuel Enemou, who treated
Olu Koye, a Nigerian diplomat with the Economic Community of West
African States, was aware that the diplomat was a carrier of the deadly
Ebola virus.
The commissioner stated this during a press conference in Port Harcourt on Friday evening.
Parker said, “He had received the late
Dr. Patrick Sawyer in Lagos. Upon developing the symptom, confided in a
female colleague, called Lilian, who contacted the late Enemuo. It was
after contact was established with Dr. Enemuo that Olu Koye flew to Port
Harcourt to see him.
“To conceal his movement, Koye, who had
been quarantined among other people for having primary contact with the
late Dr. Sawyer, the Liberian-American who transmuted the Ebola virus
into Nigeria, sneaked out of the isolation unit where he was being
observed and took a flight to Port Harcourt and switched off his phone
so that he could not be reached or traced should he answer a call.”
On arrival in Port Harcourt, he said
Koye checked into Mandate Gardens, a local hotel in the Rumunokoro area
in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.
The hotel is within the Rumunokoro area where Dr. Enemuo’s private health facility, Sam Steel Clinic is located.
Parker added, “From what we have
gathered so far, Dr. Enemuo, knowing that Koye was positive of the Ebola
virus took some measures of precaution to protect himself while
treating Koye.
“Knowing the enormity of what he was
doing, Enemuo upon Koye’s departure for Lagos, poured bleach all over
the room that Koye slept in order to sanitise the place.”
He said the deceased, after having
developed the symptom, approached a colleague for treatment at Good
Heart Hospital along Evo Road in G.R.A.
He said Enemuo did not tell the doctor that was treating him the truth, stressing that he merely told him that he had fever.
Parker said, “He lied. He did not tell
the doctor that was treating him his full story. But the doctor, a nice
and conscientious professional, suspected that Enemuo was either hiding
something or was suffering from a strange ailment because he proved
negative to malaria, fever and typhoid fever.
“To be sure of what he was doing, he
spoke to other very experienced doctors about the strange case he was
handling in his hospital.”
The commissioner said the doctor
treating Enemuo even invited some his colleagues to come over to his
hospital to study Enemuo’s medical history.
He said because the news of the Ebola virus was all everywhere, those he called were afraid to honour the invitation.
Parker added that none of them showed up
at the hospital where Enemuo was being treated, stressing that Enemuo’s
condition continued to deteriorate until he died after which body was
taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
The commissioner also declared that the
advent of the dreaded Ebola virus in the state was currently posing a
challenge, saying the development was tantamount to a war time
situation.
He said the Rivers State governor, Mr.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, had pledged to provide funds to enable the
state to procure all relevant materials as well as the services of
medical experts from Nigeria and abroad to contain the virus.
Parker also said 60 more people who had
secondary contacts with Koye were quarantined last night, bringing the
total so far to 100.
He added that the wife of the late
doctor had tested positive for the Ebola virus and had been moved to the
isolation centre in Lagos.
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