How we successfully managed Lassa fever patient – FETHI CMD

In what sounded like ‘if you don’t beat your drum nobody would beat it for you,’ the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, in Ido Osi council area of Ekiti State was full of joy as it narrated how its medical team battled and rescued the life of a 19-year-old student nurse infected with the dreaded […]

In what sounded like ‘if you don’t beat your drum nobody would beat it for you,’ the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, in Ido Osi council area of Ekiti State was full of joy as it narrated how its medical team battled and rescued the life of a 19-year-old student nurse infected with the dreaded Lassa fever virus, otherwise called viral hemorrhagic infection in medical parlance.

The teenage patient, who has since been discharged, having been given a clean bill of health, is a student of the School of Nursing, a training arm of the hospital. She was rushed to the hospital on Saturday, January 16, after failure to respond to treatment  on malaria and typhoid fever with high profileantibiotics.
It was all smiles on the faces of the staff of the hospital when the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr Lawrence Ayodele, narrated how they were able to ‘remain standing where others had fallen’.
At a press conference in Ido Ekiti during the week, the medical director also commended some members of the medical team for risking their lives during the harrowing period. He presented  a nurse, Mrs Adejoke Awotona,and her team with certificates of excellence in service.
In the joyful mood, Dr. Ayodele said: “This student nurse was rushed into this hospital with high fever, bleeding from orifices. We wanted to reject her because we don’t have the medical kits to undertake treatment here. But because we heededthe minister’s directive not to transport Lassa fever patients, weimmediately swung into action.
“Today, we have recorded a success story. The lady is tested negativeto the virus and she has been discharged. We were able to achieve thisfeat because of the determination of our nurses and doctors.
“For anybody to lay down his life in spite of the poor facilities to treat the infection here, he deserves to be compensated, even if it isjust presidential handshake,” he said.
The hospital boss was particularly happy that the patient was treated and discharged without any of his medical team contracting the disease.
Tracing how the victim contracted the disease, Ayodele recalled that the student nurse  did not contract the disease while in school but at home during the last Christmas/New Year holiday, quoting the patient’s father to confirm his position.
Ayodele, who pleaded with the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole,to reward the experts and designate the centre as a nationallyrecognized management  centre, said the patient was discharged after apost-treatment diagnosis  carried out at the Federal Teaching Hospital,Irrua, Edo State.
He advised the federal government to design a template for effective control of  the spread of any endemic disease that breaks outin the country.
He also pleaded with government to increase funding to the hospital to enable it execute more projects and procure equipment that would aid its health care delivery services. Specifically, he said the hospital would like to expand the isolation centre and equip it with facilities.
He, however, vowed to deal with medical experts who allegedly dodged responsibility when the battle lasted, describing their action as unprofessional.
Also commenting, Dr. Yusuf Musah and Nurse Awotona, infectious disease experts, said governmentshould increase the hazard allowance given to medical experts,saying  the sum of N5,000 is too paltry for anybody to risk his life.
Awotona however said: “If we have more terrible situations, we are ready totake the risk. But the government must take us into consideration.
“They should increase our hazard allowance and also pay us ruralallowance, because Ido Ekiti itself is still a rural setting,” the CMD said.