A renowned obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr Benjamin Nnamdi Ohiaeri, is dead. Dr Ohiaeri was the founder and chief medical director of First Consultants Medical Centre, the hospital at the centre of the 2014 Ebola crisis in Nigeria. He founded First Consultants Hospital in 1982 in a relatively small white building on Obalende Road, near Dodan Barracks; it moved to a bigger facility at 16-24 St Gregory's College Road, Obalende, in 1989-1990.
FIRST FAMILY BIRTHS: Then first lady of Nigeria, Mrs Maryam Babangida, gave birth to Halima at First Consultants in 1989; then first lady of Lagos, Mrs Munira Marwa, gave birth to Imran there in 1998. EBOLA CRISIS: On July 20, 2014, Liberian diplomat Patrick Sawyer flew into Lagos on his way to Calabar for an ECOWAS conference, became very ill at the airport and was rushed to First Consultants around 9pm.
He denied contact with anyone with Ebola symptoms and was initially treated for malaria. By the next morning he was hemorrhaging (blood in urine and eyes), with acute diarrhoea and vomiting. Chief physician Dr Ameyo Adadevoh suspected Ebola and arranged testing through LUTH, set up a crisis committee, and insisted Sawyer remain at the hospital despite his becoming unruly and pressure from the Liberian ambassador (who threatened a kidnapping charge and diplomatic incident).
Dr Ohiaeri took the phone and told the ambassador that releasing an Ebola patient onto the streets of Lagos was more serious than any charge. Sawyer deliberately infected staff—removing his IV line, spilling blood, smearing body fluids. After confirmation, the Lagos State Government assisted, President Jonathan signed an emergency order, and the foreign minister's protest letter got the ambassador recalled.
The crisis devastated the hospital: equipment destroyed, months of closure while salaries were paid, and patients afraid to return after reopening. Dr Ohiaeri said the greatest loss was the staff—he had planned to retire and make Dr Adadevoh his successor, but the disease killed her. The stigma was so great that one dead worker's family was evicted; he rented them another apartment and paid the children's school fees.
With help from the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA) he reached US health authorities and the CDC; ANPA donated protective equipment; WHO experts decontaminated the hospital. 'Here in Lagos, we lost seven people as a result of Mr Sawyer's bio-terrorism and four of such deaths were staff of First Consultant hospital. That means we bore the brunt of the disease for the country,' he said, recalling Dr Adadevoh ('she worked with me for 21 years... my number 1 person'), Dr Abaniwo, Nurse Evelyn (a widow with four children, after whose death the landlord threw her children out—'we have got them an accommodation'), and survivor Dr Ada Igonoh, whom he adopted as a daughter.
AFTER EBOLA: Dr Ohiaeri and First Consultants received praise and awards, though he lamented not being invited by government to share lessons. He was played by American actor Danny Glover in the movie 93 Days. Photo 1) Dr Benjamin Nnamdi Ohiaeri. Photo 2) Dr Ohiaeri and some of the doctors at First Consultants. Photo 3) First Consultants Medical Centre. Photo 4) Dr Ohiaeri and Danny Glover who acted as him in 93 Days.
