FREETOWN (Reuters) – A Sierra Leone doctor died on Monday from Ebola, making him the fifth local doctor in the West African state to have succumbed to the hemorrhagic fever that has taken a heavy toll on the country’s medical personnel.
Dr Godffrey George, a medical superintendent at the Kambia Government Hospital in the north of the country, died after he tested positive for Ebola on Saturday, according to Sierra Leone’s Chief Medical Officer Brima Kargbo.
“He drove himself from Kambia on Friday after he started feeling unwell and checked himself into the Chinese hospital at Jui outside Freetown,” Kargbo said.
He added that George did not treat Ebola patients and might have contracted the virus through a patient he treated for another illness.
Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by the largest outbreak of Ebola on record. The disease has killed 4,951 people out of 13,567 infected in eight countries.
Some 120 health workers – including nurses and other medical staff – have tested positive for the disease in Sierra Leone, with about 100 dead.
With its healthcare system still reeling from a 1991-2002 civil war, Sierra Leone had only just over 100 doctors for its 6 million people before the outbreak struck.
Read more at Reuters
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.