A doctor in Sierra Leone has died of Ebola, the fifth local doctor in the west African nation to die of the disease.
Godfrey George, medical superintendent of Kambia government hospital in northern Sierra Leone, died on Sunday night, according to Sierra Leone’s government.
George’s death, which was announced by Dr Brima Kargbo, Sierra Leone’s chief medical officer, is a blow to efforts to keep desperately needed health workers safe in a country ravaged by the deadly virus.
George had been driven to the capital, Freetown, after reporting that he was not feeling well.
Doctors and nurses have been particularly vulnerable to contracting Ebola, as the virus is spread through body fluids.
Ebola is high on the agenda for a regional meeting of the World Health Organisation that began on Monday in Benin, a west African nation that has not registered any Ebola cases. WHO’s director general, Margaret Chan, said the Ebola epidemic has set back political stability and economic recovery in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.