Another Ugandan doctor dies of Ebola in Liberia
Doctors wearing protective gears before attending to Ebola patients in Liberia. A Uganda-born doctor, John Taban Dada, died early Thursday of Ebola at a treatment center on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. File Photo
Posted Friday, October 10 2014 at 13:12
IN SUMMARY
Dr Dada’s death brings to four the number of doctors who have died in Liberia since the outbreak. Over ninety health workers, including nurses and physician assistants, have also died
International media quoted the Liberian Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah as having said that Dr Dada who has been a gynecologist and surgeon would be buried on Thursday in accordance with policy requiring quick interment of victims.
Dr Dada is the second Ugandan doctor to die of Ebola in Liberia, after Dr. Samuel Muhumuza Mutooro, who died in July. Just last week, another Ugandan, Dr. Michael Mawanda, a paediatrician, was flown from Sierra Leone to Germany for specialised treatment after he was diagnosed with Ebola.
Dr Dada’s death brings to four the number of doctors who have died in Liberia since the outbreak. Over ninety health workers, including nurses and physician assistants, have also died.
By press time, two U.S. military flights were due to arrive in Liberia on Thursday, Army Capt. R. Carter Langston told The Associated Press in an email.
“Two different flights of MV-22 Osprey and KC-130 aircraft, along with U.S. Marines, will arrive to support the whole-of-government effort to contain Ebola,” Carter said, noting they would land at Roberts Airfield outside Monrovia.
Dada, the naturalized Liberian doctor who died on Thursday, served as the medical director of the Redemption Hospital in Monrovia from 2008 to 2013 before moving on to take up a new assignment at the country’s largest hospital, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center, according to authorities at the Redemption Hospital.
Dr. Atai Omoruto, a Ugandan doctor heading the newest Ebola treatment center at what used to be Island Clinic in the western suburbs of the city, expressed shock at the death of Dada, describing him as a very quiet and dedicated man.
“I didn’t know he has passed on; it is really unfortunate that we’re still losing so many health workers,” she told AP.
“This Ebola really … it has come for the health workers,” she said, “Because right now at Island Clinic we have almost 10 health workers admitted including doctors from JFK and laboratory technicians and nurses.
