Ebola: Sierra Leone surgeon arrives in US for treatment
- 10 years ago
A surgeon from Sierra Leone who is critically ill with Ebola has been flown to the United States for treatment.
Transferred to a waiting ambulance, Dr Martin Salia was taken to the Nebraska Medical Centre, one of four American hospitals approved by the federal government to receive people with the deadly disease.
Medical officials say Dr Salia, 44, who is a permanent resident in the US, appears sicker than previous patients treated there.
The surgeon caught Ebola while working at a hospital in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown according to his family.
His evacuation was at the request of his wife, a US citizen who lives in Maryland and who has agreed to reimburse the US government for any expense, the US State Department said in a statement.
More than 5,000 people have now died in the world’s worst recorded Ebola outbreak, with most victims in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The West African countries’ already weak healthcare systems have been overrun by victims of the disease. A total of 570 local health workers have been infected, with 324 dying.
Transferred to a waiting ambulance, Dr Martin Salia was taken to the Nebraska Medical Centre, one of four American hospitals approved by the federal government to receive people with the deadly disease.
Medical officials say Dr Salia, 44, who is a permanent resident in the US, appears sicker than previous patients treated there.
The surgeon caught Ebola while working at a hospital in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown according to his family.
His evacuation was at the request of his wife, a US citizen who lives in Maryland and who has agreed to reimburse the US government for any expense, the US State Department said in a statement.
More than 5,000 people have now died in the world’s worst recorded Ebola outbreak, with most victims in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The West African countries’ already weak healthcare systems have been overrun by victims of the disease. A total of 570 local health workers have been infected, with 324 dying.