Ebola: Honour Adadevoh with Public Holiday, Medical Guild Tells FG

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Guild of Medical Directors, Abuja Chapter, has called on the federal government to declare August 19 every year a public holiday, in honour of late Dr. Stella Adadevoh, who halted spread of the Ebola Virus in the country.

The Public Relations Officer of the Guild, Dr Biodun Ogungbo who stated this in a statement in Abuja recently, said the woman deserves such honour, saying this would be more lasting and not ‘a title, which would soon fall out of use’.

He said: “That way, children of many decades can ask their parents who is Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, as she saved many lives.

“It is the least we can do. It is the least we should do, she should never and will never be forgotten.

“The very least that Nigeria can do in appreciation is to honour her. The Guild of Medical Directors and other medical associations honoured Dr Adadevoh in their small capacities in the past,” he added.

He said the association had given awards and plaques and foodstuff to the hospital, saying such efforts was not enough.

Ogungbo said the sacrifice that Adadevoh made was the highest form of sacrifice that any man, or woman, can make for his or her fellow human being.

He said there was no greater love than to lay down ones life for a friend, adding that she had put her life on the line for 170 million of her fellow citizens, many of whom do not even understand the concept of what it means to be a citizen.

“There is no other word to describe the actions of our great heroine, and indeed her entire facility. In preventing the escape of this patient who had insisted on leaving, in his condition, for Calabar, 750 kilometres away, the hospital saved countless lives.

“What if Mr. Sawyer had decided that the best way to go to Calabar was to go to Jibowu and
take a bus? Even if he’d chosen to go by air, which would have made his fellow passengers that are much easier to trace, the potential damage still remains incalculable.

“The most tragic part of her passing is that she couldn’t be given a proper burial, and with all the respect that her sacrifice demands,” he added.