Carol Jamabo: What you need to know about the Nigerian health worker who died of COVID-19 in UK
The deadly COVID-19 which has forced the world into a lockdown, killing nearly 76,000 from more than 1.3 million confirmed cases, has claimed the life of another Nigerian health worker in abroad.
Olumide Okunuga was the first known Nigerian medical practitioner based in abroad killed by coronavirus. Okunuga died in Italy on Monday March 10. Former Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki also announced the death of 68 years old Dr Alfa Sa’adu from Kwara State who was also killed by the virus while volunteering in the United Kingdom. Barely a month after, another Nigerian health worker in United Kingdom, Carol Jamabo has also lost a battle with the virus.
Aside being the third Nigerian health worker outside the shores of the country known to have died of the virus, Daily Mail UK reports that the 56-year-old is also believed to be the first care worker in UK to be publicly identified to have succumbed to the killer virus.
According to her nephew Dakuro Fiberesima, Jamabo died last Wednesday, a week after she was rushed to the hospital after suddenly becoming ill.
“Carol suddenly became unwell roughly 10 days ago at her home whilst with her son and was then rushed to hospital. Over the days her condition rapidly deteriorated. She was transferred to the intensive care unit however treatment there with a ventilator was not successful in keeping her alive,” Fiberesima who is also based in Essex, UK wrote on the GoFundMe page he created to raise fund for the family of the deceased.
According to information on Jamabo’s Facebook page, she was an alumnus of Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Abuloma, Rivers State and the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.
She was born in Nigeria and relocated to the UK in the early 1990s. In 1997 she joined the service of the National Health Service (NHS), the publicly funded healthcare system of the United Kingdom. The NHS is the largest employer of Black and Minority Ethnic (BHE) staff in the UK with 40.1 percent of medical workers from BME backgrounds.
She previously worked in both the prison service and as an NHS administrator at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London and most recently, she worked as a carer in the community for Cherish Elderly Care in Bury, Greater Manchester, after moving to Bury to be closer to her two children, Tonye Selema, 25, and Abiye Selema, 22.
Her youngest son Abiye, who is a student at Leeds University, has also tested positive for the virus.
Carol Jamabo or CJ as she was fondly called had no major underlying health conditions but suffered from asthma before contracting COVID-19. Fiberesima said her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was transferred to an intensive care unit and put on a ventilator at Salford Royal Hospital before losing the battle.
Although there are no public information about her husband, Jamabo is described as a devout Christian who dedicated over 25 years of her life to the UK public service as a key worker.
In his tribute on the Go Fund Me website to appeal for fund for her funeral costs, Fiberesima described Jamabo as “a fun loving person with many friends and will be remembered for her uplifting, joyful and enthusing personality.”
“Words cannot describe the damaging and destructive impact her passing will have to her work colleagues, friends, family and most painfully, her two children,” he added.
As at the time of filing this report over £8,575 has been raised for the family, surpassing the £4,500 target.
