Documents obtained by this newspaper showed that Mr. Sawyer’s
employers, ArcelorMittal, an iron mining company, suspended him
from work and isolated him after it became aware that he had
contact with his sister who died of the virus on July 8. The company
also issued an internal memo to staff of the company informing them
that Mr. Sawyer had been referred to the Liberian Health ministry for
testing and close observation.


The Liberian Government was aware that Patrick Sawyer, its citizen who
brought the Ebola virus into Nigeria, had possibly contracted the virus from his
late sister, yet cleared him to travel to Nigeria for a conference organised by the
Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS], PREMIUM TIMES can
authoritatively report today.

Documents obtained by this newspaper showed that Mr. Sawyer’s employers,
ArcelorMittal, an iron mining company, suspended him from work and isolated
him after it became aware that he had contact with his sister who died of the
virus on July 8.

The company also issued an internal memo to staff of the company informing
them that Mr. Sawyer had been referred to the Liberian Health ministry for
testing and close observation.

“A family member of an ArcelorMittal Liberia employee died on Tuesday, July
8th, in Monrovia due to a confirmed case of the Ebola virus,” the July 11 edition
of Satellite, an internal newsletter of ArcelorMittal Liberia, said. “The employee
had minimal contact with the victim, at the state where the virus was
infectious.

“Doctors say the risk of potential transfer to any member of the ArcelorMittal
staff or contractors is very low. The employee has submitted to the Ministry of
Health for a medical examination for possible Ebola infection, and has also
requested the Ministry of Health to make the result available to ArcelorMittal
Liberia and its close affiliates.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the employee has been infected. Under
the Ministry of Health guidelines, the employee is being monitored on a daily
basis and will continue to do so for a period of 21 days. During this time the
employee will be absent from work.”

The July 25 edition of the Satellite, which announced Mr. Sawyer’s death,
reads:
“Patrick was last at the Buchanan site (of AncelorMittal) on 9th July when he
informed us about the death of his sister. Having informed us of this news,
Patrick was submitted to the Ministry of Health for a medical observation and
isolation and requested not to return to work until he had passed through the
incubation period. He has not been at the Buchanan site or in any ArcelorMittal
office since that time.”

But despite being under isolation and observation for the deadly disease, the
Liberian Government, through its Deputy Finance Minister For Fiscal Affairs,
Sebastian Muah, cleared Mr. Sawyer to travel to Nigeria for an ECOWAS
convention in Calabar.

The deputy minister personally admitted approving the trip in an online
discussion forum, where some Liberian citizens raised questions about his
action and competence.

Mr. Muah could not be reached for comments on Monday. His mobile telephone
was switched off the numerous times PREMIUM TIMES called.
But the Liberian Minister of Information, Lewis Brown, admitted to this
newspaper that his government knew Mr. Sawyer was possibly infected by the
virus before he travelled to Nigeria.

“I can confirm to you that he was advised by the Chief Medical Officer at the
Ministry of Health not to leave the country because he was under observation,”
Mr. Brown said by telephone from Monrovia, the Liberian capital. “It was
regrettable that he left the country while being observed.

“We felt he had a duty to his colleagues to tell them that he was under
observation for the disease. We also felt he had a duty to our country and yours
(Nigeria) not to leave Liberia so as not to endanger the lives of others.”

Asked why a Liberian government official approved Mr. Sawyer’s trip to Nigeria
even when the administration was watching him for Ebola, Mr. Brown said he
had no information that the Deputy Minister, Mr. Muah, okayed the journey.

He however explained that such an administrative slip was possible at the time
Mr. Sawyer left Liberia for Nigeria because at that time, inter-agency
cooperation among government departments was low.

“It’s possible the health ministry was monitoring him (Mr. Sawyer) but the
finance ministry did not know,” Mr. Brown said. “It was a slip and we have
learned from it regrettably.”

He said the Patrick Sawyer incidence had now compelled Liberia to rework its
procedures.
“Now the practice is to share the names of everyone under observation with all
other agencies, including the airport, so they cannot leave the country,” the
minister said.

“Before the Patrick Sawyer incidence, we did not have that kind of cooperation.
We were not locking people under observation down. We were only bringing
them to the isolation centre after they showed signs of the disease.”

Liberian newspaper, The New Dawn, which saw the CCTV footage recorded at
the James Spriggs Payne’s Airport, Monrovia, moments before Mr. Sawyer
boarded an Asky Airline plane to Lagos on July 20, reported that he looked
“terribly ill” and wore a “sad countenance“ like someone in severe pain.

Apparently overtaken by “excruciating pain,” he, at a point, laid flat on his
stomach on the floor in the corridor of the airport.

The paper also reported the footage as capturing Mr. Sawyer sitting alone and
avoiding bodily contacts with other passengers who came close to him at the
boarding gate of the airport as he awaited his flight to Lagos.

Mr. Sawyer became severely ill on the plane and was taken to First Consultant
Hospital, Obalende, from the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.
Reports of events before he travelled to Nigeria and soon after his death have
now shown that top Liberian government officials were aware of his trip to
Nigeria and appeared to have done nothing to stop him.

The reports have also shown that Mr. Sawyer did not escape from where he
was quarantined as reported by some newspapers.
In fact, the actions of some Liberian officials suggested that they were more
concerned with getting Mr. Sawyer to the convention venue in Calabar and
cared very little about the health risk he posed
.
After he died, First Consultant Hospital issued a statement saying it resisted
immense pressure from Liberian officials to discharge Mr. Sawyer from the
hospital to enable him to attend the convention in Calabar, with diplomats
saying he had a key role to play at the convention.

Nigeria was free of Ebola until July 20 when Mr. Sawyer arrived.
He became terribly ill on his flight and was rushed to the First Consultant
Hospital Obalende, Lagos, where he died on July 24.

Nigeria’s Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said on Monday that although the
Liberian government has apologized for the incidence, it was pertinent to note
that Nigeria was free of Ebola Virus until its importation by the Liberian-
American.
Mr. Sawyer’s action, he said, has placed unnecessary stress on Nigeria’s health
system.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/12/how-liberian-govt-cleared-patrick-sawyer-travel-nigeria-ebola

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abeg dat one dn pass...nr dy let me remember ebola

Conspiracy?