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Doctors stood down over handling of Ebola scare

Two doctors have been stood down at Cairns Hospital in far north Queensland as a review into the handling of an Ebola scare proceeds.

Sue-Ellen Kovac, 56, was hospitalised last week after returning from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone as a volunteer with the Red Cross.

A Cairns Hospital spokesman said Ms Kovac was discharged from the hospital after a second round of tests returned a negative result.

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The spokesman said Ms Kovac would spend a further eight days in home quarantine.

Julie Hartley-Jones, the chief executive of the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, confirmed in a statement this afternoon that two doctors had been stood aside.

“I have taken the decision to stand down two senior doctors on full pay at Cairns Hospital pending the results of a review into the handling of recent infectious diseases cases in the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service,” she said.

“This is the only comment we will be making at this time.”

Ms Kovac returned home from Sierra Leone healthy, but last Thursday morning her temperature rose to 37.6 degrees Celsius.

She was assessed by an infectious diseases specialist at Cairns Base Hospital, where she works, and underwent blood tests.

The samples were sent to Brisbane to be tested for the virus on Thursday and came back negative for the disease.

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