Medics attacked as Ebola instances close to 1,000 as folks ‘do not imagine it is actual’
Ebola cases have almost reached 1,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but anger is spreading among locals who don’t believe the virus is real and under-pressure medics are coming under attack
Congolese police provide security for Red Cross workers during a burial for an Ebola victim(Image: AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Health workers on the front line of the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are coming under attack as cases in the country race towards 1,000.
Authorities in the war-torn country say suspected cases have now passed 900 in the east of the nation. The Ituri Province has been the most affected area of the crisis, which has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation.
The country’s already-stretched health service is struggling to contain the outbreak as short-staffed hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. And repeated arson attacks on treatment centres have made their job even harder.
An angry mob set fire to one hospital at the epicentre of the outbreak of new sub-strain of the virus last week. Police fired warning shots at the crowd, who had thrown missiles at the Rwampara General Hospital and set fire to tents being used as isolation ward.
The trouble is said to have been sparked when family and friends of a young man thought to have died from the virus were prevented from taking his body away for burial.
Ebola victim’s bodies are still highly infectious and the authorities need to ensure safe burial to stop the spread of the virus. Medical workers at the Rwampara hospital were placed under military protection as the police moved in to restore order.
The strict protocols have sparked anger as authorities in north-east Congo have banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people. Armed soldiers and police are guarding some burials carried out by aid workers.
Witnesses to the arson attack in Rwampara said the crowd accused a foreign aid group operating there of lying about Ebola. Local politician Luc Malembe Malembe said many people do not believe the virus was real despite it being killing more than 170 victims.
He the BBC: “People are not properly informed or sensitised about what is happening. For a certain segment of the population, especially in remote areas, Ebola is an invention by outsiders – it does not exist.
“They believe it is the NGOs and hospitals creating this to make money, and this is tragic.”
Eastern Congo has attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups in recent years, some of them with links to foreign countries or the extremist Islamic State group. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are in control of parts of the region.
While the Congolese government still largely controls the north-eastern Ituri province at centre of the Ebola outbreak, its control is tenuous.
The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group linked to Islamic State, is one of the dominant rebel groups there and is responsible for attacks against civilian targets.
Before the outbreak, Doctors Without Borders said insecurity in Ituri had worsened recently, causing doctors and nurses to flee, leaving overwhelmed health facilities and “catastrophic conditions”.
The UN humanitarian office says almost 1 million people have been displaced from their homes by conflict in Ituri. The country’s football team must isolate for 21 days before the World Cup due to the outbreak amid fears of it entering the US.
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