The hope of recovery by patients currently being treated for the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) seems to be getting lost, as the doctors and nurses attending to them at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, downed tools.

Their action may not be unconnected to reports of allegation of negligence levelled against them by relatives and associates of the dead nurse and other Ebola patients in the hospital.

Relatives and associates of the female doctor and other health workers who contracted the EVD from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, had at a media briefing on Thursday in Lagos accused the federal and state governments of neglecting patients.

Reacting to the development, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said he had appealed to the health workers on the need to get back to work, describing the reports as “disheartening.”

The governor, who also cautioned the media against sensationalising reports on the disease, said it could cause serious panic among residents.

Fashola said: “The report reaching me about two hours ago was that some of the health workers at the centre felt un-appreciated and decided to stop work because of the media reports that they were not working effectively to save the lives of the victims.

“We do not need that at the moment. While we sympathise with the victims, the health workers are doing their best to care for the victims.

“My appeal to the people is that more health workers should sign up and what I was told by experts was that even if one is the best physician in the world, the person cannot enter the isolation ward. He or she has to be trained on how to kit up and how to get out of the centre and the training takes between five and seven days to achieve.”

The governor said they appreciated what the media had been doing to help the government sensitise the public about the risk and the precaution on Ebola virus and the necessary development of the outbreak of the virus in the country, adding that because the virus was new in the country, the media must be circumspect about how they published and publicised comments on the matter.

The governor said: “At the moment, I am only able to speak about this because I receive a daily briefing from our team and at the beginning of each day. And I act on what they tell me.

“We sympathise with the victims who were affected by the virus, we understand the trauma the family members are going through. But when all of that is taking into account, it is not true that we are not taking care of the patients.”

•Excerpted from a Saturday Independent report. Photo shows doctors involved in the ward against Ebola.