Sierra Leone Ebola patient Dr Martin Salia, who reached US for specialised treatment, is still in a critical condition.
The 44-year-old surgeon, who is a permanent resident of US, contracted Ebola while working in his native Sierra Leone, but was transported to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, at the request of his Maryland-based wife Isatu Salia.
Dr Salia was working as a chief medical officer at the Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, when he started exhibiting some symptoms of the deadly disease in the first week of November. He tested positive for the disease on 10 November.
The surgeon reached the Eppley Airfield at 3pm on Saturday, 15 November. He was later shifted to the Biocontainment Unit of Nebraska Medical Center in an ambulance.
The medical center has been credited with treating and curing two Ebola cases earlier: Dr Rick Sacra, a medical missionary from Massachusetts, who fell ill with Ebola in Liberia; and Ashoka Mukpo, a freelance cameraman of NBC News, who got the infection while working in Liberia.
However, Salia's health remained poor, even one day after his hospital admission.
"The third Ebola patient still extremely critical. Maximum supportive care and every available treatment option being used to save his life," Nebraska Medical Centre tweeted at 6.12 pm on 16 November.
Meanwhile, reports on Monday revealed that Dr Salia was transported after his wife agreed to bear the total cost involved in the medical evacuation. A private air ambulance is estimated to cost around $100,000, according to ABC News.
The couple, who lives in Annapolis, has two sons aged 12 and 20.
The surgeon's son named Maada Salia has been praying hard for his father's recovery ever since he tested positive for the deadly disease. "Praise To God my Dad is Ebola Free ooo ooo oooo ooooo oooo God you never fail us your children," the surgeon's son wrote on Facebook.
Nebraska Medical Center is one of the four hospitals in US that have specialised bio-containment facilities. The other three specialised facilities are: The National Institutes of Health Facility in Maryland, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and St Patrick Hospital in Montana.
