An accident victim was left to die at the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, when doctors at the hospital feared contracting the Ebola disease.

Daily Trust gathered that a woman who was knocked down by a vehicle was brought to the hospital by sympathisers Monday, but health workers refused to treat her and she died yesterday.

A senior worker said doctors refused to treat her for fear of Ebola, and she died at about 11:00am yesterday.

 “The victim was brought into the casualty ward by two good Samaritans. She was reported to have been hit by a car along the Sani Abacha way in Yenagoa. Instead of treating the bruises and cuts on her body, the doctors refused, claiming it may be Ebola. They refused even after being shown pictures from the scene of the accident. The woman was brought into the casualty section by 2pm on Monday, but was abandoned till about 11am on Tuesday and died. Even when the mortuary attendants were asked to take the body to the morgue by Dr. Ogiriki and Dr. Okubo, they refused. They took the body after the intervention of the Head of Administration, Mr. Ogoro Oyondombra. It is a shame”, he said.

Meanwhile, authorities at the centre and the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital yesterday dismissed as “a dangerous” rumour, claims that four deaths had been recorded in the state from Ebola.

Public Relations Officer of the teaching hospital, Francis Samuel Tonkumo, said the reported deaths were false and no Ebola case had been recorded in the centre. 

“We have been bombarded by calls from everyone asking if the rumour about death from Ebola is true. It is a lie and the isolation centre at the hospital is empty. We have received the needed protective gears”, he said.