Following the release of the names of the 2014 national honours recipients, several Nigerians have pointed out omissions in the list. chief of which is the name of Dr. Stella Adadevoh, a senior consultant at First Consultants hospital, where index Ebola case in the country, Patrick Sawyer was first treated.
Adedavoh was said to have treated Sawyer when he came to the medical facility and also refused to discharge him after the Liberian, who was described as a “difficult” patient insisted on leaving for a conference in Cross River state, alerting the Lagos state ministry of health when his tests for Ebola came back positive.
According to many, her courage was a telling factor in the limited spread of the virus. Based on this many feel that her name should have been added posthumously.
Responding to the calls, senior special adviser on public affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe said the non-inclusion of Adadevoh’s name was not in the hands of the federal government. Speaking via social media platform, Twitter, he said: “I received enquiries as to why Dr. Stella Adadevoh was not included in the honours’ list. By the law establishing it, national honours cannot be given posthumously.”
I hv rcvd enquiries as 2 why dr adadevoh was not included in d honors list By law establishing it nat.honors cannot be given post humously — Doyin (@doyinokupe) September 21, 2014
Regardless of the explanations, many still feel the law should be bent for her name should be included.
In a related development, speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji has advised that the center for infectious diseases in Lagos state should be named after the late doctor. He made the call at the plenary sitting of the house on Monday, September 22, 2014.
Ikuforiji said she single-handedly stopped Sawyer from further infecting other Nigerians with the deadly disease. “She ought to have been included in the recent national honours list by the federal government. But because we thrive on mediocrity in this country her name was not included,” he said
