Bleeding ear sends nurses into panic

Lack of knowledge about how the ebola disease presents itself, fear of getting infected with the dreaded disease and sheer unintelligence, saw a 35-year-old Zimbabwean man being tossed from pillar to post when he went to seek medical help from a Mogoditshane clinic on Sunday.

The patient (name known to this publication) checked himself into Nkoyaphiri clinic after he noticed he was bleeding from his right ear.

The man could never be prepared for what followed his entry as clinic staff instantly whisked the ebola isolation unit at Block 8 clinic without trying to find out what he could be suffering from. However they found the clinic already closed as it was after hours. They drove to Princess Marina Hospital. Mortified, the nurses kept their distance from the man.

"They [nurses] refused to remove him from the ambulance and would not even get close to him. After sometime one of the doctors came and examined him. It turned out the bleeding was merely due to ear inflammation," said a source at the hospital.

The doctor then sent the patient back to the Nkoyaphiri clinic for the duty doctor there to treat him.

Mmegi could not get a comment from the Head of District Health Management Team Dr Godfrey Simonga as his phone rang answered. His office is tasked with monitoring disease outbreaks in the region.

Ebola is a viral disease whose initial symptoms include sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, a sore throat and external bleeding from various body parts.

Transmission is by body fluids and touch. To date the disease has claimed over 900 lives in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leon and Guinea collectively.