Senior consultant infected by Sawyer, dies in Lagos

      Dr. Stella Adadevoh

Nigeria yesterday recorded the fifth Ebola virus fatality with the death of Dr. Stella Adadevoh, a female consultant physician, in Lagos.

Adadevoh, a consultant endocrinologist, was the first Nigerian to be diagnosed with the disease.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Dan Nwomeh, announced Adadevoh’s demise on Tuesday evening.

“We regret to announce the death of one of the primary contacts of the index case, the most senior doctor who participated in the management of the patient, a female consultant physician, with this unfortunate development the total number of Ebola virus related deaths now stand at five,” the terse statement read.

The late Adadevoh was a Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, and a member of the Nigerian Medical Association and the British-Nigerian Association.

She obtained her MBBS degree from the University of Lagos, Akoka as well as a Diploma in Endocrinology from the University of London.

She was a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College. The late Adadevoh practised in the United Kingdom and Nigeria for more than three decades.

As of the time she encountered the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, on July 20, she was the Lead Consultant at the First Consultants Medical Centre Lagos, where the man who brought the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease was admitted.

The death of the medical practitioner reinforces the concern over the safety of health workers in the crusade against the killer disease.

Reacting to the death of Adadevoh on Tuesday night, the Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Akin Osibogun, described the deceased as a “thorough professional.”

Osibogun said he was in the same class at the medical school with the late Adadevoh.

“We owe her a lot; she managed the situation like a thorough professional that she was. She had helped Nigeria to contain the epidemic in her own way.

“She was very passionate and lively in class when we were in school,” he said.

Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, said the nation owed the deceased “a debt of gratitude.”

Odinkalu said Adedavoh was one of the “very best” in the medical profession.