First Consultants celebrates Ada Igonoh’s post-Ebola miracle baby

FIRST Consultants Medical Centre, Lagos, yesterday celebrated Dr. Ada Igonoh’s childbirth, describing it as yet another feat for Nigeria.

The hospital, at a briefing to officially announce the delivery yesterday, indeed relished Igonoh being the first ever Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) survivor to get pregnant and deliver a baby.

Igonoh, a staff of the hospital and Ebola survivor in the early hours of Tuesday delivered at the Greater El-Monte Community Hospital, California, United States. She is one of the First Consultants staffers that contracted Ebola from the index patient, Patrick Sawyer, at the inception of the disease outbreak last year.

An elated Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri, said besides the miracle of successful containing the disease outbreak last year, Igonoh’s conception and delivery were another mysteries to the medical profession globally.

Medical experts have predicted that Ebola survivors are less likely to be pregnant or deliver a baby.

Ohiaeri, at the briefing attended by Igonoh’s husband, Godwin , said it was not only that she conceived against all odds, but Igonoh also delivered and “all tests conducted came out negative, confirming that baby is Ebola-free.”

He confirmed that the mother and her yet to be named baby girl were in very good condition, with the later weighing nine-pounce-one-ounce.

It would be recalled that the Ebola index patient, a U.S.-born Liberian, Sawyer, died at First Consultants, an infected no fewer than eight people at the hospital. Dr. Stella Adadevoh was one of the four that died, while Igonoh is the only female among the four doctors that were lucky to survive the “dreaded and deadly disease.”

Ohiaeri said Nigeria deserves to celebrate the feat. “We are today excited because this is the first of the firsts. Last year, we were visited with the dreaded and deadly disease. A year later and by the grace of God, we are saved from a national calamity and now we have reason to celebrate the birth of a baby among our survivors.

“The baby was made in First Consultants and delivered in California by Nigerian-American doctors. When you get Ebola, it is difficult to get pregnant. If you are pregnant, it is difficult to carry and difficult to deliver. Ada indeed made us proud,” he said.

He also commended the United States government, the World Health Organisation (WHO) team, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) team, global affairs team, El-Monte people that were present during the delivery and quite proud of Igonoh.

“This is a celebration of life and it is a success story that we believe will continue to resonate in our country. This has been made possible by all of you people in the press also,” Ohiaeri said.

The new father said he was grateful to have his first baby. According to him, “last year was a difficult one but we came through it and this is another year and we have something to thank God for. I want to thank everyone that stood by us, especially those Nigerians who never met us but still took time out to pray for us.

First Consultants played a very critical role in ensuring that she stayed employed and supported her psychologically. The press also helped with information and managing everything that happened,” he said.