BY ABIOSE ADELAJA ADAMS

Just as Nigerians were celebrating the discharge of five survivors of the Ebola disease, the Minister of Health, Omyebuchi Chukwu, on Tuesday announced the death of a fifth person from the virus.

The latest to die from the disease is Stella Adadevoh, the lead consultant of the First Consultant Medical Centre, who participated in the management of late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian American who brought the disease into Nigeria.

A statement by the minister signed by the special assistant on media, announced the death of “one of the primary contacts of the index Ebola Virus Disease case, the most senior doctor who participated in the management of the patient, a female consultant physician.”

The minister said that the remaining two patients currently under treatment in the isolation wards “are stable and are being taken care of.”

Although the minister did not name her, Adadevoh, was the medical director of the First Consultant Medical Centre, where Sawyer died on July 25 and she was one of the doctors who treated him.

Adadevoh was an endocrinologist with a professional practice experience of more than 30 years. She was a member of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and the British-Nigerian Association and had an MBBS from the University of Lagos as well as a Diploma in Endocrinology from the University of London. She was a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College.

Last week, her relatives and professional colleagues had cried for international help as she was critically ill.

They said she saved Nigeria of a more terrible outbreak of Ebola which would have occurred had she not acted professionally by insisting on an Ebola test for Sawyerr and if she had not notified the Lagos government.