Sheikh Humarr Khan | |
---|---|
Born | 6 March 1975 |
Died | 29 July 2014 | (aged 39)
Education | Trained at Korle Bu[2] |
Known for | Ebola isolation ward |
Medical career | |
Profession | Chief Medical Officer |
Research | Lassa fever,[1] Ebola |
Sheik Umar Khan (6 March 1975 – 29 July 2014) was the chief Sierra Leonean doctor attempting to curb the country's Ebola outbreak in 2014.[3]
The virologist is credited with treating over a hundred patients before succumbing to the virus himself. He was recognized as a "national hero" by Sierra Leone's Health Ministry.[4] Khan had long worked with Lassa fever, a disease that kills over 5,000 a year in Africa. He had expanded his clinic to accept Ebola patients. Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, celebrated Khan as a "national hero".[5] He had a habit of hugging the cured Ebola patients that were leaving his ward, to lift their spirits.[6]
Khan made contact with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in 2010 when he came to Ghana to do his Residency. He was offered admission into the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to undertake a 3-year residency training programme in internal medicine. As part of the training, he was posted to the Department of Medicine of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.[citation needed]
Khan was very meticulous in donning personal protective equipment as he treated patients.[7] Believing the virus unable to be transmitted in an airborne fashion, he worked fearlessly with Ebola virus patients.[8] Despite observing recommended protocols, Khan was infected by the virus and died on 29 July 2014 in a facility run by Medecins Sans Frontieres.[9] He was not offered a dose of the experimental drug ZMapp though one was available.[10] Sierra Leonean president Ernest Bai Koroma had been due to visit his treatment center the following week.[11]