The widow of late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who brought
Ebola into Nigeria, has defended her husband’s decision to
travel to Africa’s most populous country, saying he did so
in desperate search for a country with better healthcare
system than his own country.
In an article published earlier today, TMZ Liberia Magazine
quoted Decontee Sawyer, who is a radio host in New York,
as explaining that Mr. Sawyer had no trust in the
healthcare system in Liberia and had possibly headed to
Nigeria with the hope of receiving better treatment for his
ailment.
Mrs. Sawyer shared her thoughts on her Facebook profile
from which TMZ Liberia sourced it for publication.
“I’ve read other reports in other papers (not the New York
Times) about Patrick’s “recklessness.” I get where they’re
coming from, and they certainly have the right to feel the
way they do. However, as Patrick’s widow, I would like to
shed some light on this from another perspective. One that
only I, his wife, would know,” she wrote.
“I knew Patrick better than anybody else (including
himself). He had told me many times in the past how much
he didn’t trust the Liberian healthcare system. He would
tell me about how a person would get checked in for one
thing, and get misdiagnosed and get the wrong treatment
as a result. On top of that, Patrick was a clean freak, and
told me how filthy a lot of the hospitals were.
“He didn’t tell me this, but I know in my heart of hearts that
Patrick was determined to get to Nigeria by all means
because he felt that Nigeria would be a place of refuge. He
has expressed to me many times in the past that he felt
passionately about helping to be a part of strengthening
Liberia’s healthcare system, but he knew it wasn’t there
yet, and he wouldn’t want to take a chance with his life
because a lot of people depended on him… Patrick had a
passion for life, and he wouldn’t have wanted his to end.
So, I bet anything that he was thinking, if I could only get to
Nigeria, a way more developed country than Liberia, I
would be able to get some help. How ironic.”
Many Nigerians, and even Liberians, condemned Mr
Sawyer for traveling to Nigeria despite knowing that he
was carrying Ebola virus before embarking on the trip.
Some Nigerians on social media have described him as a
“biological terrorist” arguing that he came into the country
deliberately to spread the disease.
On Monday in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan
described Mr Sawyer’s decision to travel to Nigeria as pure
“madness” and “craziness.”
“Sawyer that brought this Ebola to Nigeria; his sister died
of Ebola. And he started acting somehow, his country
asked him not to leave the country, let them observe him,
but the crazy man decided to leave and found his way
here,” President Jonathan said.
In her post, Mrs. Sawyer wrote that the fact that her
husband avoided contact with others at the James Sprigg
Payne’s Airport in Monrovia as revealed by airport CCTV
footage proved he didn’t set out to infect others with the
disease and perhaps his actions were that of a dying man
in desperate search for help.
“It has been reported that Patrick avoided physical contact
with everyone he came across during his trip from Liberia
to Nigeria.
When he got to Nigeria, he turned himself in
letting them know that he had just flown in from Liberia.
“Patrick went to Nigeria for help so that he can get properly
diagnosed, and not misdiagnosed in Liberia. And if it came
back that he did have Ebola, he trusted the Nigerian
healthcare system a lot more than he trusted the
Liberian’s. His action, as off as it was, was a desperate
plea for help. Patrick didn’t want to die, and he thought his
life would be saved in Nigeria.”
Mrs. Sawyer then took a swipe at the Liberian President,
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who said Mr Sawyer was
indiscipline and disrespectful for failing to heed medical
advise not to travel.
Mrs Sawyer said if President Johnson-Sirleaf had fixed the
healthcare system in Liberia, her husband would not have
left in search of treatment elsewhere.
“I write today, not simply because of Patrick, but because
of the broken healthcare system in the Liberia, and the
government’s inability under President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf (and other past Presidents) to fix it. Good doctors,
nurses, and other healthcare providers aren’t given the
support they need to save lives.
“President Sirleaf went on CNN News throwing stones at
Patrick, a man who can no longer defend himself, a man
who worked tirelessly for Liberia. She should be ashamed
of herself. I use to admire this woman, and was excited
and proud of her accomplishment as the first woman
President in the entire continent of Africa. She will always
own that. We will always own that. It can’t be taken away
from her. It’s something to be proud of. But this woman
has failed her country,” she wrote.
Nigeria was free of Ebola until July 20 when Mr. Sawyer
arrived.
He became terribly ill on his flight and was rushed to the
First Consultant Hospital Obalende, Lagos, where he died
on July 24.
Nigeria’s Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said on
Monday that although the Liberian government has
apologized for the incidence, it was pertinent to note that
Nigeria was free of Ebola Virus until its importation by the
Liberian-American.
Mr. Sawyer’s action, he said, has placed unnecessary
stress on Nigeria’s health system.
Since Mr. Sawyer’s death in a Lagos hospital, two other
persons who had contact with him have died of the virus.
At least eight others have also tested positive to the
infection and have been quarantined at a Lagos hospital.
President Goodluck Jonathan has since declared a national
emergency on the disease while the federal health ministry
in conjunction with health ministries in the 36 states are
working to prevent the spread of the virus, which has killed
over 1,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
No comments:
Post a Comment