A female Nigerian medical doctor has made history by becoming the first Nigerian to beat the dreaded Ebola disease, thus confirming to doubting Thomases that Ebola is not a death sentence.

Speaking yesterday at a news briefing in Lagos, Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said that the first Nigerian Ebola patient, had been declared fit and discharged from hospital.

The minister did not disclose the name. This gave rise to speculations that the history maker was

Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, a Senior Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist with First Consultant Medical Centre in Obalende, Lagos, who unknowingly contracted the disease in the process of diagnosing and treating late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, who imported the disease into Nigeria late last month.

However, as it later turned out, the woman whom the minister announced has not only fully recovered but has also been given the green light by doctors to resume her normal life turned out not to be Dr. Adadevoh.

Prof. Chukwu also broke another cheering news: Five other Nigerian Ebola patients are in the process of full recovery!

Giving an update on the country’s war against Ebola, the minister said: “The total number of Ebola cases now stands at 12, while the number of deaths remains four. The people under surveillance in Lagos is now 189, while six are in Enugu, in southeast Nigeria.”

The minister, however, disclosed that the drug, Nano Silver, which was thought could be used to treat Ebola patients in Nigeria, was said not to have met the requirements of the National Health Research ethics code. The drug is the handiwork of a Nigerian doctor based in the USA.

President Goodluck Jonathan had last week declared the Ebola outbreak in Lagos State a national emergency and approved an intervention fund of 1.9 billion Naira to contain the disease.

•Photo shows Nigerian Ebola patient, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh.