Nebraska Medical Center is currently evaluating the status of a U.S. surgeon who was infected with Ebola during his stay in Sierra Leone.
According to an e-mail from Taylor Wilson, spokesperson of Nebraska Medicine, to Businessweek, the patient, Dr. Martin Salia, will undergo tests to see if he is fit to be transported. If he can be relocated, he will arrive in Omaha City on Nov. 15.
"He will be evaluated by the medical crew on the Phoenix Air jet upon their arrival in Sierra Leone," said the hospital's representative. "The members of the crew will determine whether the patient is stable enough for transport - if he is, he would arrive in Omaha sometime Saturday afternoon."
Wilson added that they will provide updates to the press about "the status of this patient as more information becomes available."
The medical center also stated that they have their staff on a "state of readiness" ever since they were visited by the U.S. State Department last August.
The State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already spoken with Dr. Salia's wife and informed the immediate family of their plans to transfer him to Nebraska, Omaha.
The surgeon grew up in Sierra Leone but is a U.S. citizen. If the evaluation concludes he can travel, he will be the third Ebola patient to be transferred to Nebraska for treatment.
According to AP, a federal official explained that Dr. Salia was working at the Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown. He is currently situated in one of the treatment centers of the city. He tested Ebola-positive Monday after reporting symptoms last Nov. 6. However, it was not made clear if he had connections to other Ebola patients in that region.
Sierra Leone was hit by the Ebola virus this year. Including Guinea and Liberia, these West African nations had already reported more than 5,000 Ebola victims who died this year.
The Omaha hospital is one of the four hospitals in the U.S. that specializes in treating patients with highly infectious diseases. It was the first choice for this case because Atlanta's Emory University Hospital and National Institutes of Health in Washington are undergoing a 21-day monitoring period.
