4 unforgettable facts about Umar Khan, the doctor who gave up his life for Ebola patients

The World is full of heroes. Day after day, and from country to country, there are dozens of people who are staking their lives for the overall well-being of the society — only that many of them die pretty unknown and recognised. 

One of them is Sierra Leonean physician, Dr. Sheik Umar Khan.

Upon the deadliest-ever outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) began in February from Guinea and spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, Khan led a team of other doctors to mount a charge against the killer virus. After helping to preserve the lives of more than 100 victims of the disease, Khan  was discovered, on July 22, 2014, to have himself contracted the disease. Exactly seven days later, he died.

Here are four things to remember about a man whose name will positively resonate whenever ‘Ebola’ is mentioned.

1. HE HAD BEEN SAVING LIVES BEFORE EBOLA

He gained international attention only recently, following his work on Ebola. But Khan had been in the business of combating life-threatening diseases for more than a decade.

He worked for the Lassa Fever Programme at the Kenema Government Hospital (KGH), Sierra Leone, in the 2000s, at a time when the fever was what Ebola now is. And after Dr. Aniru Conteh, yet another courageous medic, tragically died of Lassa fever in 2005, Khan took on the reins of the prograame.

When Khan died, the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium called him “one of the world’s leading experts in the clinical care of viral hemorrhagic fevers”, while Doctors  Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) described him “as an extremely determined and courageous doctor who cared deeply for his patients”.