75-year-old Spanish Priest Contracts Ebola In Liberia

oge okonkwo

August 6, 2014 5:15 PM

An online petition signed by more than 15,000 people has urged the Spanish Foreign Ministry to transport the priest back to the country

A Spanish priest working in Liberia has tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus and s being treated in in isolation at San Jose Hospital in Monrovia.

75-year-old Miguel Pajares of the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God tested positive to Ebola along with two other nuns, Chantal Pasaline Mutwamene and Paciencia Melgar, from the Order of the Immaculate Conception.

The information was given by the Spain-based health charity Juan Ciudad ONGD

"The situation in the San Jose Hospital in Monrovia where six people have been isolated since last Friday, Aug. 1, is serious," Juan Ciudad ONGD said in a statement.

Sources with Spain's health ministry informed Efe that they are working on the details to return Parajes to the country for treatment.

Before learning the diagnosis, Pajares, 75, had told Efe, a Spanish international news agency that he was feeling "abandoned" in the African nation and was hoping to return to Spain to receive proper medical care.

"I'd like (to go to Spain) because we've had a very bad experience with what's happened here. Here we are abandoned and they're not taking care of us. We want to go to Spain and for them to treat us as people, as God orders," said Pajares in remarks made by telephone.

After learning Pajares' diagnosis, his religious order informed the Spanish government.

An online petition signed by more than 15,000 people has urged the Spanish Foreign Ministry to transport the Spanish religious workers currently in isolation due to Ebola back to Spain and demanded that the health care workers be brought back to Spain, like the United States did for two of its citizens who had contracted the virus..

oge okonkwo