Row over Ebola kit as doctor dies

FREETOWN

A doctor who had tested negative for Ebola has died, stirring debate over the efficiency of some of the testing equipment.

Dr Martin Salia, a Sierra Leonean was first tested at the flagship Chinese hospital, the China-Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital, situated in the small town of Jui, in the outskirts of Freetown. The result were negative.

But his celebration was short-lived as the symptoms persisted and the doctor was forced to take a second test at an Italian-run hospital in the west of Freetown. This time, he tested positive.

He was then taken to Hastings Treatment Center outside Freetown and his condition improved slightly. Deputy Health Minister Madina Rahman visited and served him food.

But eight days after he was first tested by the Chinese, Dr Salia’s condition deteriorated and he was flown to America for Ebola treatment.

He is the only Sierra Leonean medic to be evacuated for Ebola treatment.

Doctors in the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which last treated him, said he died of kidney failure.

He would have survived had he been diagnosed early, added the doctors.

But a spokesman of the China Centre for Disease Control (China-CDC) Yang Ruifu insisted that their technicians followed the standard procedures when conducting the test on Dr Salia.

“Diagnosing Ebola in a patient infected for only a few days is difficult because the early symptoms like fever are common to other illnesses. That is why a second test should be done within 72 hours,” he said.