The Sun Awards 2014: Adadevoh’s honour has done us proud – Ohiaeri, CMD, First Consultant Hospital

Chief Medical Director of First Consultant Medical Centre, Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri, has expressed happiness over The Sun Hero of the Year Award 2014 conferred on one of his late staff, Dr. Stella Adadevoh.

Adadevoh, a doctor with First Foundation, handled the case of Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who imported Ebola into Nigeria in August and died of the virus this year.

Also, the hospital’s CMD praised The Sun Publishing Limited and the entire Nigerian media for the way they handled the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), saying their support contributed immensely to the curtailing of the deadly virus in the country.

Receiving a delegation of The Sun, led by the Executive Director, Corporate Services, Mr. Steve Nwosu, who presented a formal letter notifying him of the posthumous The Sun Hero of The Year Award 2014 bestowed on Dr. Adadevoh, the CMD said the late doctor deserved every accolade that comes her way, as she made him and his colleagues proud.

Recalling how Adadevoh put her life on the line and paid the supreme prize by physically stopping a desperate Sawyer from discharging himself from the hospital, Ohiaeri thanked The Sun for the recognition accorded both his late colleague and the entire management and staff of First Consultant Medical Centre by the award.

“We have been very impressed with the way the media, both in Nigeria and outside the country, rallied round to support us, knowing that this was a national problem,” Ohiaeri said.

The CMD, who just returned from an overseas trip, where the United Nations singled him out for special recognition over the battle against Ebola, equally thanked both the Federal and Lagos State governments for the enormous support they gave in ensuring that Ebola was brought under control.

Ebola, which had been ravaging five other West African countries, was brought into the country by Sawyer, a Liberian diplomat, who was admitted at First Consultant Hospital with a fever. However, the sophisticated processes at the hospital, as well as its insistence on global best practices, led to the confirmation that he was actually suffering from Ebola. The hospital instantly isolated him and defying the possible stigmatisation of the hospital, informed all the relevant government agencies of the development.

Adadevoh, who was the medical doctor in charge in the hospital at that time, eventually got infected and died.

Apart from the huge prize in human cost, which the hospital paid, it lost equipment and also suffered a temporary shutdown. However, it has since been cleared of every trace of the virus and re-opened for operations. It has also been certified as one of the most compliants in the country, in terms of Ebola readiness.

The Sun Hero of the Year Award will be formally presented to representatives of Dr. Adadevoh on January 17, 2015 in Lagos.