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FREETOWN. – Sheik Umar Khan, the late top doctor in Sierra Leone’s fight against the dreaded Ebola disease, who died on Tuesday at the Kailahun Treatment Centre in the east of the country will be buried today, an official release said yesterday. “The corpse has been disinfected and conveyed to the Lassa Fever Mortuary in Kenema,” a Press release from the country’s Ministry of Health said.
In a tribute to Khan, Sierra Leone’s sole virologist, the medical charity Doctors without Borders said that “we are saddened by the death”.
The tribute described the late doctor as “an extremely determined and courageous doctor, who cared deeply for his patients. “
“His work and dedication have been greatly appreciated by the medical community in Sierra Leone for many years,” said the tribute.
Government spokesman Abdulai Bayratay told reporters that “the government of Sierra Leone is devastated over Khan’s death.”
Figures released by the ministry in an update yesterday disclosed that 129 patients have survived the disease and have been discharged from the treatment centres in Kenema and Kailahun.
Meanwhile, the European Commission said yesterday it was allocating an additional US$2,68 million of aid to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. This brings the EU’s humanitarian funding in response to the worst Ebola outbreak in West Africa to US$5,2 million.
“The level of contamination on the ground is extremely worrying and we need to scale up our action before many more lives are lost,” Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, said in a statement.
The EU has deployed experts to the affected countries to help assess the situation and co-ordinate with the authorities, she said.
The additional funding will help contain the spread of the epidemic and provide immediate health care to the affected communities. EU support will be delivered through partner organisations, including the World Health Organisation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
To date, the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic has been reported in three countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone with a total of 1 200 cases and 670 deaths.
According to the WHO, this is the largest recorded outbreak in terms of cases, deaths and geographical coverage. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter