The Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Samson Parker, has likened the emergence of Ebola Virus Disease in the state to a ‘war time’ situation, saying it posses a serious challenge.

He said Governor Chibike Amaechi has pledged to provide funds for the procurement of relevant materials as well as the services of medical experts from Nigeria and abroad with the aim of containing the spread of the virus in the state.

Dr. Parker told journalists in Port Harcourt that the late Dr. Iyke Samuel Enemou, who treated Olu Ibikunle Koye, a Nigerian working with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was aware that the diplomat was a carrier of the Ebola virus.

 

Said Parker: “He (Koye) received (the now deceased) Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, in Lagos. Upon developing the symptom, confided in a female colleague called Lillian, who contacted Dr. Enemuo. It was after contact was established with Dr. Enemuo that Koye flew to Port Harcourt to see Dr. Enemuo.”

To conceal his movement, Koye, who had been quarantined with other people for having primary contact with the late Sawyer, reportedly sneaked out of the isolation unit where he was being observed and took a flight to Port Harcourt and switched of his phone so that he could not be reached or traced should he answer any phone call.

On arrival in Port Harcourt, Parker said Koye obfuscated being traced, checked into a local hotel in the Rumunokoro area in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. The hotel is within the Rumunokoro area where Dr. Enemuo has his health facility – Sam Steel Clinic.

 

Dr. Parker explained: “From what we have gathered so far, Dr. Enemuo, knowing very well that Koye was positive of the Ebola virus, took some measures of precaution to protect himself while treating Koye. Knowing the enormity of what he was doing, Dr. Enemuo upon Koye’s departure for Lagos, poured bleach all over the room that Koye slept, in order to disinfect the place.”

 

He continued: “Upon developing the Ebola symptom, Dr. Enemuo approached one of our colleagues for treatment at Green Heart Hospital, along Evboh Road, in G.R.A. He did not tell the doctor that was treating him the truth. He merely told him that he had fever. Of course, he lied! He did not tell the doctor who was treating him the full story.

“But the doctor, a nice and conscientious professional, suspected that Dr. Enemuo was either hiding something or was suffering from a strange ailment because he proved negative to malaria and typhoid fever. To be sure of what he was doing, the doctor spoke to other experienced doctors about the strange case he was handling in his hospital.”

Parker continued: “He even invited some of his colleagues to come over to his hospital to study Dr. Enemuo’s medical history. Of course, the news of the Ebola virus was everywhere, so they were afraid to go. None of them showed up at the hospital where Dr. Enemuo was being treated. His condition continued to deteriorate and he eventually died and his body was taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.”

 

The commissioner further disclosed: “When news got to Koye that the doctor that treated him in Port Harcourt had died, he collapsed. It was then he opened up and confessed that Enemuo had treated him when he travelled to Port Harcourt. He confessed that he sneaked out of the quarantine centre to Port Harcourt.”

Parker said 60 more people who had secondary contact with Koye were quarantined last night, bringing to 100, adding: “Our contact tracing team is working seriously to make sure we contain the spread of the Ebola virus in Rivers State.”

He further announced that Dr. Enemuo’s widow has been flown to Lagos for treatment at where the National Treatment Centre for the Ebola Virus.

 

“We transferred her to Lagos for two reasons: she wanted to leave this zone and, second, we transferred her to enable us concentrate on tracking those who have had secondary contacts with Koye.”

Meanwhile, the airline in which Koye flew to Port Harcourt, including Dr. Enemuo’s health facility – Sam Steel Clinic at Rumunokoro; Green Heart Hospital, where Dr. Enemuo was treated along Evboh Road, in GRA; and the Mandate Gardens, a low-grade hotel, also in Rumunokoro, where Koye lodged when he sneaked out of the quarantine centre in Lagos to receive treatment from Enemuo in Port Harcourt have also been decontaminated.