FIVE out of nine survivors of the dreaded Ebola Virus Diseases, EVD, yesterday, met with Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, and some members of the State’s Executive Council, SEC, where they recounted their experiences. They include Dennis Akagha, husband of late Justina, a nurse at First Consultant Hospital, Dr Fadipe Akinniyi, Dr. Ibeawuchi Morris, Dr. Adaowa Igowoh and Kelechi Enemuo, wife of late Dr. Iyke Samuel Enemuo, who died of EVD in Port Harcourt.
Three of the survivors who are staff of First Consultant Hospital, contracted the virus from the index case, late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who brought in the disease into Nigeria on July 20, 2014.Dr. Igowoh, who was the first to recount her ordeal, described yesterday as a glorious day in her life. She said, “it is a day of joy. I want to say that we are here today because of God. It was He that made us to survive. We are privileged to see this day and to be here with everybody, it is an honour. Thank you so much Governor Fashola, we can’t thank you for everything.
We at First Consultants Medical Centre took a risk, we risked our lives because we knew that we wanted to ensure the safety of Lagosians, Nigerians and humanity because we are a global village; from a small village it can spread to the world and we knew the implications, but we said we would risk our lives and we would not let the index case leave the hospital.”