Courier Mail reported Doctors are outraged that suspected Ebola patient Sue Ellen Kovack was treated in busy emergency department of Cairns Hospital:
DOCTORS are outraged a suspected Ebola patient was tested for the deadly virus in the busy emergency department rather than in isolation in the highly infectious diseases unit at Cairns Hospital. International Red Cross volunteer nurse Sue Ellen Kovack was last night due to be transferred out of emergency to an isolation unit in a medical ward after internal outcry by senior clinicians in the north Queensland hospital. Doctors branded as “bizarre” the decision by Queensland Health to test her in the busiest part of the hospital which handles some of the “most vulnerable” patients. The 57-year-old tested negative to Ebola yesterday but faces a three-day stay in Cairns Hospital ahead of new blood test results on Monday.
Health officials told how the nurse was an “extremely low risk” of Ebola, which is not airborne or highly contagious. Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, said the negative test result reinforced how Ms Kovack’s condition posed no danger to the public. Dr Young said the nurse was into day 10 of the 24-day incubation period for the haemorrhagic fever. She was still feeling “a bit unwell” but the “fever has resolved” and she was being watched closely in isolation, Dr Young said.
Ms Kovack returned home to Cairns on Tuesday from treating Ebola-infected patients in Sierra Leone. She had been in home quarantine and presented to hospital with mild fever after a temperature spike on Thursday. Her flatmate who drove her to hospital has been cleared of any risk, Dr Stephen Donohue said. Senior doctors told of an internal outcry after plans emerged to keep Ms Kovack for six days in a negative pressure room in the hospital’s emergency department where up to 200 patients a day are treated.
“It’s appalling. What the hell is going on?’’ said a senior clinician, speaking on behalf of a group of concerned doctors. “Why’s she is still in ED? It’s the wrong place.
“Lights are on 24 hours a day, medical staff are incredibly busy, and we’ve got a possible Ebola case in a bed in the midst of where we treat our most sick, ill and injured patients.”
The clinician said it reflected “the hospital is unable to deal with the situation”.
Dr Young said: “The major learnings so far is that the case would be easier to manage if the patient was in Brisbane.” Tourists in Cairns (left) wore protective masks in the streets and on Reef trips amid heightened fear about Ebola.
Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton yesterday warned against “panic” as he confirmed 11 Australians had been tested for Ebola and all had returned a negative result. He dismissed calls by federal MP Bob Katter for all Australians who come into direct contact with Ebola overseas to be compulsorily kept in official isolation clinics for three weeks. Dr Young said creating a register of Queenslanders that are overseas helping to fight Ebola was being considered.
Queensland Health also revealed it has inspected and ordered an isopod – a hi-tech isolation chamber – to transport infectious patients.
Queensland federal MP Bob Katter, who this week suggested all aid workers returning from Ebola zones should be isolated for three weeks in strict quarantine, seized on the report to continue his attack on the health authorities’ response.
“Keeping a suspected Ebola patient in a public emergency ward is beyond comprehension,” Mr Katter said in a statement.
“…The reassurances provided by authorities are, at kindest, misleading and in light of media reports today, fall well short of proper responsible disclosure.”
Queensland Health has hit back at “irresponsible” claims it bungled its handling of a possible Ebola case in Cairns.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service chief executive Julie Harley-Jones said she was “appalled” by the news report.
“It was irresponsible for The Courier-Mail to imply that the patient being in the Emergency Department represented a risk to other patients,” she said in a statement.
“When the patient presented to Cairns Hospital on 9 October she was admitted to the closest negative pressure room available.
Queensland Health has defended its treatment of Ebola scare patient Sue Ellen Kovack.
“There is no chance that any patients presenting to the Emergency Department would be able to enter this room with access limited by two security doors.”
Ms Harley-Jones said Ms Kovack’s treatment had been “spot on” and she wanted to assure the community there was “no reason to panic”.
“Yesterday I was in the Emergency Department with the clinical director who had no concerns about the appropriateness of treating the patient in ED,” she said.
“…Our Health Service continues to provide excellent care to this patient and any reports to the contrary are absurd.”
Queensland’s chief medical officer Jeanette Young said she had “every confidence” in the way Cairns Hospital staff had handled the situation.
“Of course, following any major event we evaluate to examine what could have been done differently,” Dr Young said.
“While I have no doubt that this situation was handled well, we will look to see if processes need to change should the situation arise in the future.”
Source: Brisbane Times