Patients panic at QECH over Ebola scare ; There was intense fear among guardians and other medical personnel at the Queens Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre today after reports indicated there was an Ebola suspected patient quarantined at the hospital. Some guardians at the referral hospital told me that they had noted that a patient highly protected was ferried in the hospital with the scare of Ebola making rounds in the wards. It is said the patient had been referred from Mwanza Hospital where the doctors said they were not trained on how to treat the disease. The guardians added that after a few minutes, some doctors as well as guardians were noted to be getting out of the hospital fearfully after it had gone viral that the patient who was taken in was suspected of Ebola. She added that the doctors had since ran away from the patient as they also feared for their lives. “Imagine when the doctors read notes from Mwanza hospital to confirm if the case is an Ebola case everybody in the labour ward including Doctor ran away,” she said, adding: “Am told she is a Mozambican.” There are also claims that officials from Mwanza hospital have sent the patient to QECH deliberately because only Doctors and nurses from QECH went and shared allowances for the Ebola workshop. In that respect hospital personnel from Mwanza wants doctors and nurses from QECH to treat the patient because Mwanza did not have a pie of the allowances from the workshop. However a doctor from QECH who was in the ward has confirmed that the patient is suffering from chicken pox and that he was quarantined just as a precaution measure. “The patients who ran away from their beds were just afraid but its chicken pox,” he said Lines of top officials at the referral hospital were out of reach. A month ago another scare engulfed African Bible College Hospital in Lilongwe. Ebola has been serial in the Western Africa region. Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) is a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%. It is one of the world’s most virulent diseases. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are health workers, family members and others in close contact with sick people and deceased patients.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:04:52 +0000
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