Durban - The man still under observation for the Ebola virus at Addington Hospital had to be tracked down by a crack medical team after he “just disappeared and did not answer his phone” last week, Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo revealed on Tuesday.
The MEC was briefing the provincial health portfolio committee at the KwaZulu-Natal legislature on how the unidentified man, from the uThungulu district, ended up at Addington Hospital’s specialised Ebola isolation ward.
“Due to the media scare and hullabaloo last week, I see it wise to take committee members into confidence and report on what really happened.
“The 46-year-old man had worked as a fleet manager in Sierra Leone for two-and-a-half months, and had returned to South Africa on October 15. He had called the (health) department the next day enquiring if he could do an Ebola test even though he was not ill and did not have signs and symptoms for the disease,” Dhlomo said.
He said the man had later said he had gone to a Richards Bay private hospital to undergo tests, and was tested negative for both the disease and malaria.
“The department however discovered that there were no records of a test being done at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), and the man was advised to contact us immediately,” Dhlomo said.
On October 29, the man contacted the provincial NICD unit complaining about fever symptoms, diarrhoea, vomiting, sore muscles and skin rash.
He was advised to go to Ngwelezane Hospital, in Empangeni, which was alerted to receive him, Dhlomo said.
An hour-and-a-half later, the man had not arrived at the hospital and when contacted on his cellphone, he said he had to drop his son at King Shaka International Airport.
“We then advised him to proceed to Addington Hospital, and he agreed and the facility was alerted and prepared to receive him, but he just disappeared and did not answer his phone.
Emergency
“The next day the department put together a team comprising Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Ebola Virus Disease response unit, uThungulu District NICD and a doctor from Ngwelezane Hospital to track the man down at his home.
He was persuaded to go to hospital and the EMS team took him and handed him over to the isolation unit for investigations, which were done, and after two days, diagnosis results proved negative,” he said.
Dhlomo reminded committee members that Health Minster Aaron Motsoaledi had directed that all issues pertaining to suspected Ebola cases would be handled by his office.
The Daily News reported on Monday that the man had been cleared of the virus.
At the time, national Department of Health spokes-man, Joe Maila, confirmed receiving a report from the provincial department about the man. He said the NICD was taking tests and monitoring the patient and initial tests were clear.
The man is, however, understood to be still under observation.
According to the NICD’s website, Ebola has an incubation period of two to 21 days. During this time, a person is well and shows no signs of being infected.
Recent media reports revealed that at least 1 500 people have died from the disease in Sierra Leone.