Four Indians Forced to Treat Ebola Patients Want Out

 

 Ebola virus

•Epidemic scare grips Cameroun
The after effects of the Ebola epidemic assumed another dimension in Nigeria after four Indian doctors working in Abuja claimed that they were being forced to treat Ebola patients against their will, the Hindustan Times (HT) reported yesterday.

They have already threatened to resign and probably head back to their country.
But the Indian newspaper’s report contrasts with the federal government’s position that no one had tested positive for the virus in the Federal Capital Territory, thus raising eyebrows as to which party was telling the truth on the presence of Ebola in Abuja.

This is just as the fear of the Ebola pandemic has gripped neighbouring Cameroun, after rumours hit the country that Ebola-infected persons had escaped into the country from Nigeria.

The Indian doctors also charged their employers with taking away their passports to ensure that the doctors are unable leave the country.

The doctors are: Yogesh Chandra, Dinesh Kumar, Hemant Jingar and Kapil Chouhan.
According to HT, the doctors said they were being held hostage at the Primus Hospital in Abuja, as their movement had been restricted to within the hospital premises.

With the virus spreading across the country, the doctors are scared that they too could contract the disease, especially if they are forced to treat Ebola patients without being adequately kitted.

They spoke to Hindustan – a sister publication of HT – over phone, email and WhatsApp.
“We haven’t been provided with any security kits. Our passports have been impounded. When we spoke to the Indian High Commission, we were asked to come to the mission. But we were stopped by guards from leaving the hospital,” said Chouhan.

He added that the Indian doctors were forced to work since local physicians who were on strike refused to come back to work when the Ebola epidemic broke out.

Government sources, however, told HT that following the intervention of the Indian High Commission in Nigeria, the doctors agreed to work in the hospital for a few more days and then leave the country.
In the four countries affected so far – Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria – the virus has infected nearly 150 healthcare workers, killing around 80 of them.

Though Nigerian authorities maintain that there are no Ebola cases in Abuja, Dinesh Kumar’s wife, Smita alleged that patients from Lagos, which has registered 10 Ebola cases and two deaths – were admitted at the hospital.
The CEO of Primus Super Speciality Hospital India, Dr. ND Khurana, however, appeared not to agree with the demands of the four doctors.

“We are in touch with our Abuja branch. These doctors are afraid of contracting the dreaded disease but it is against medical morality. One doctor has left the service, which will be treated as impropriety,” he said.

But Dr. Narendra Saini, secretary of the Indian Medical Association, countered Khurana, arguing that a doctor’s personal choice should dictate if they want to work in a particular country.

In another development, the Ebola scare has gripped Cameroun following reports that cases of the disease were imported from neighbouring Nigeria, said AFP.

Cameroun’s Minister of Health has refuted the allegations.
Rumours that cases of the deadly Ebola virus had been detected at the government referral hospital in Douala, Cameroun, spread quickly.

Marcel Fru, 17, said he learned from television news reports that two Nigerians were taken from the Douala Airport to a hospital after the virus was detected in them.

Nigerians throng into Cameroun on a daily basis for business, vacation and fear of the militant group, Boko Haram.
Some clergy and traditional rulers advised people to report any suspected case of the disease.

But Minister of Health, Andre Mama Fouda, said the information about Nigerian Ebola victims in Cameroun was wrong.

“With regards to our country Cameroun, no suspected case has been reported until [this] date,” Mama Fouda said. “But in preparation for a possible emergence of this disease, surveillance is strengthened in all the health districts at the borders, particularly at the level of all the health posts, airports and seaports."

Mama Fouda said since WHO declared Ebola an international public health emergency, they have worked with Nigeria to halt the spread of the disease.

“The Democratic Republic of Congo has provided us with two Ebola kits comprising 100 protective clothing for medical staff,” he said.
University of Yaounde student Enanga Merci, 24, said the minister of health's message sounded reassuring.