Ebola patients, workers flee DR Congo hospital attack
Ebola patients and responders fled a hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after being attacked by an angry mob, a healthcare worker at the facility told Reuters. This incident is the latest to disrupt efforts to control the deadly outbreak.
Relatives of a patient were among the crowd that attacked Nyakunde Hospital in Ituri province on Wednesday afternoon and evening, throwing stones and damaging surrounding fences, said François Berocan Uderos, a medical biologist at the hospital.
He said the crowd was reacting to the death of a woman who went to the hospital to give birth but developed severe anemia.
“Family members offered to donate blood, but the hospital refused because blood transfusions were prohibited during the Ebola epidemic,” Uderos said.
The woman died around 3 p.m., and the attack on the hospital began shortly after, he said, adding that some of the up to 10 Ebola patients being treated there left.
“The medical team then left the hospital. The generator that provided electricity to the facility was no longer working and the patients fled,” he said.
The attack underscores the challenges facing health authorities in combating Ebola in eastern DR Congo, where distrust, community resistance and distrust of medical teams have repeatedly disrupted treatment and containment efforts.
The latest Ebola outbreak, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 17th, has so far led to 2,073 confirmed cases and 796 deaths, according to official figures.
There have been numerous attacks on healthcare facilities by angry mobs since the outbreak was announced in May; This is reminiscent of the violence that occurred during the epidemic that killed more than 25 healthcare workers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020.
Security risks have increased protests and threats of strikes from healthcare workers who say the pay they receive does not reflect the workload and stress they endure.
Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, which has an Ebola treatment center next to the facility in Nyakunde, laid off staff on Wednesday as the situation worsened, said Ken Isaacs, the group’s vice president.
“We evacuated our people and those who were well enough at the ETC (Ebola treatment center) got out and ran. The whole Samaritan’s Purse went out and we haven’t been back since. There are roadblocks and we don’t feel safe here,” Isaacs said.
Isaacs, who was briefed on the incident by staff, said some patients who were too sick to escape were left behind and “left untreated.”
Three Ebola patients were at the facility Thursday morning, Uderos said.
DR Congo’s army said in a statement that it had launched an investigation into the unrest in Nyakunde.
The outbreak has disrupted talks linked to a major U.S.-backed mining partnership in the country, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The U.S. State Department said it was trying to contain the outbreak while developing mining partnerships.
