A tenth doctor has died after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone, the government said on Sunday, increasing alarm over the safety of medics battling the deadly epidemic. Aiah Solomon Konoyima's death late on Saturday at an Ebola treatment unit in Hastings, near the capital Freetown, came just a day after two of his colleagues were killed by the virus.
"He had been in the centre for over a week and few days ago he was moved to the recovery ward as he had great signs of recovery," chief medical officer Brima Kargbo told AFP.
"The continuing death of our doctors and the mode of transmission of the virus are worrisome, and we will intensify all skills to arrest the situation."
Even before the Ebola epidemic spread from Guinea in May, Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest countries, was still struggling to rebuild its health services after a decade-long civil war in the 1990s.
In 2010 the nation was estimated to have around one doctor for every 50,000 people - or roughly 120 doctors for the entire country.
Geraldine George, president of the country's Junior Doctors Association, voiced "grave concerns" last week over the deaths of doctors, urging the government to pile more resources into fighting Ebola.
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