The University of Nebraska Medical Center wants the federal government to pay the cost of treating two Ebola patients at the Omaha facility.
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, the school’s chancellor, says it has cost his center around $1.16 million to treat the two patients sent to them by the U.S. government. He also had to take out beds to make room for the treatment, which cost $148,000 so far. Gold made the statements in prepared testimony for House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight committee.
This is the first time an exact cost has been associated with Ebola treatment in the United States, according to NBC. Gold says the cost of treating an Ebola patient is “well beyond” the normal cost of an extensive care patient, running about $30,000 a day.
Dr. Martin Salia died at the center Monday after being transported from Africa where he had been treating Ebola patients in his native Sierra Leone. Officials say his respiratory system was failing when he arrived in Nebraska. Dr. Salia was a legal permanent resident of the United States and his wife, a Maryland resident, had asked that he be transported out of Africa.
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