Another Doctor Dies

Uganda-born doctor, John Taban Dada, is the latest medical practitioner to succumb to the deadly Ebola virus which is ravaging the Mano-River sub-region.

Doctor Dada, who doubles as a Pastor and Marriage Counsellor of the Remedy Chapel (Movement) International, a local charismatic church died early Thursday morning at one of  the ELWA Ebola Treatment Units or ETU several days after he contracted the deadly tropical virus.

It is not clear how Doctor Dada, a  gynaecologist and surgeon came in contact with the Ebola virus but unconfirmed reports say, he contracted the disease why trying to treat a relative of a closed friend who is also a medical practitioner.

Health Ministry officials said Thursday that he was to be immediately buried. His death brings to four the number of doctors who have succumbed to the deadly virus here while trying to save lives. About more than 90 health workers, including nurses and physician assistants, have also died.

Dada, the naturalized Liberian doctor who died 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.

Ebola has continued to take its toll on every aspect of the Liberian society with nearly every sector being affected. The UN Mission here announced Wednesday that a second member of its personnel had been infected with the virus.

The staff member, who works for the UNMIL medical team, was said to be  receiving treatment. But the AP reported Thursday that the UNMIL staff a German, had arrived in  Germany where he has been placed in an isolation center at the St. Georg Hospital in Leipzig.

According to a press statement issued on Wednesday, SRSG Ms. Karin Landgren said this is the second case of Ebola within the mission. An earlier probable case resulted to the death of a staff member on 25 September 2014; “Our thoughts are with the staff member family, friends and colleagues”, she said.

UNMIL said its medical team has conducted tracing to ensure that all those who came in contact with both staff members while they were showing symptoms of the virus are quarantined. UNMIL has taken all necessary measures to prevent any possible further transmission within or outside the mission, and all UNMIL staff considered at risk has been isolated, and ambulances and other locations decontaminated.

With Liberia facing its gravest threat since the civil war ended in 2003, UNMIL commitment to the country is steadfast, and the mission will continue to do all that it can do within its range of capabilities to help roll back the deadly Ebola virus from Liberia, the release concluded.

The announcement of the infection of the second UNMIL staff came on the heels of the death of the first man to be diagnosed of the virus in the United States-Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan. Duncan contracted the virus while trying to help a pregnant woman seek medical attention. The lady died later.