 |
| Decontee Sawyer |
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.
Premium Times -
No comments:
Post a Comment