Sheik Umar Khan

Sheikh Humarr Khan
Born(1975-03-06)6 March 1975
Died29 July 2014(2014-07-29) (aged 39)
EducationTrained at Korle Bu[2]
Known forEbola isolation ward
Medical career
ProfessionChief Medical Officer
ResearchLassa 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]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ghana:myjoyonline.com/Jerry Tsatro Mordy
  3. ^ "Sierra Leone's chief Ebola doctor contracts the virus". af.reuters.com. Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ^ Gander, Kashmira (30 July 2014). "Ebola virus: Top Sierra Leone doctor, Sheik Umar Khan, dies of disease aged 39". www.independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Sierra Leone 'hero' doctor's death exposes slow Ebola response". Fox News. 25 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Interview: Sierra Leone's Ebola doctor feared for his life". Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Indeed yes, they no longer have Ebola and in fact as a matter of fact these are people I embrace myself on the day of discharge because don't forget the stigma about Ebola with some people you have to give them certificates so that by the time they return to their villages people will understand that they are no more suffering from the disease and they are free to interact with the population.