Ebola treatment centre set ablaze after patient dies in DR Congo

A section of Rwampara General Hospital in the Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ebola patients are cared for, was set ablaze by family and friends of a footballer who died of the disease.

The incident occurred on Thursday after health officials prevented the group from forcibly removing Eli Munongo Wangu’s body for burial, leading to the torching of the hospital tents.

“They started throwing projectiles at the hospital,” a witness and local politician, Luc Malembe Malembe, told the BBC. “They even set fire to tents that were being used as isolation wards.”

Mr Malembe attributed the incident to low awareness of the disease outbreak, especially in remote areas. He said that some members of the public believe Ebola does not exist.

“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,” the politician said.

“They believe it is the NGOs and hospitals creating this to make money, and this is tragic.”

According to Reuters, Wangu’s mother said he died of typhoid fever, not Ebola.

Health workers at the facility were under military protection as protesters also threw stones. A worker was reportedly injured.

To disperse the crowd, police fired warning shots and tear gas.

The two tents completely razed were run by the humanitarian NGO Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) and had eight beds. Two bodies scheduled for burial on the same day were burnt.

ALIMA said in a statement that six patients who were also receiving treatment in the tent “are currently being cared for at the hospital.”

Meanwhile, a local chief told Reuters that authorities were working with health officials to track patients believed to have fled.

The body of a deceased Ebola patient remains infectious. The World Health Organisation recommends “safe and dignified burials” to curb further spread of the disease.

Ituri, in the country’s northeastern region, is the epicentre of the latest Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus disease, which has no treatment or vaccine.

According to officials, at least 160 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The WHO last Sunday declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda, where two cases were detected, a “public health emergency of international concern”.