After six weeks of forced closure, First Consultants Medical Centre, the hospital in Lagos which treated Nigeria's Ebola index case, Patrick Sawyer, has finally been issued a Certification of Decontamination by the federal government and given the green light to reopen for business.
In two letters from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, which were exclusively obtained by THISDAY, both parties notified First Consultants that it had been cleared to reopen for business, having undergone three rounds of state-certified decontamination processes.
The Lagos State Government also commiserated with the hospital over the loss of its medical personnel, “who died in the line of duty” and expressed its appreciation for the altruistic role it played in containing and managing the Ebola virus, “thus preventing an epidemic”. Parts of the letters read:
“The Ministry is in receipt of a letter dated August 29, 2014, from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Ebola Emergency Centre, Lagos, informing that your facility has had three rounds of state-certified decontamination process.
The Ministry acknowledges the role your facility played in alerting the State
Government of the index case of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and appreciates your altruistic gestures in containing and managing this dealy virus, thus preventing an epidemic.
We also commiserate with you on your members of staff who died in the line of duty.
“First Consultants has now been cleared to reopen for business. We hope that with this reopening, your facility will continue to maintain its high quality of standards.”First Consultants was shut down and quarantined by the federal government on July 26 in line with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) protocol on the virus, following the death of Sawyer at the hospital on July 25. The hospital lost a number of its health care workers to the Ebola outbreak, including its Senior Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, Dr. A. S. Adadevoh.
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