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🇮🇱 Israel /Health & Science

Ebola patients, responders flee Congo hospital attack after patient denied blood transfusion dies

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Ebola patients and responders fled a hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after an angry crowd attacked it.
  • The attack was reportedly triggered by the death of a woman who was denied a blood transfusion due to Ebola outbreak protocols.
  • The incident highlights ongoing challenges with mistrust, community resistance, and insecurity that disrupt Ebola containment efforts.

An Ebola treatment center in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was attacked by an angry crowd, forcing patients and responders to flee. The incident at Nyakunde Hospital in Ituri province occurred after relatives of a woman who died during childbirth stormed the facility, throwing stones and damaging its fence.

Members of her family offered to donate blood, but the hospital refused because blood transfusions are prohibited during an Ebola outbreak

— François Berocan UderosExplaining the reason for the crowd's anger leading to the hospital attack.

A medical biologist at the hospital, François Berocan Uderos, explained that the crowd's anger stemmed from the hospital refusing to provide a blood transfusion to the woman, who had developed severe anemia. Relatives had offered to donate blood, but hospital policy prohibits transfusions during an Ebola outbreak. The woman died around 3 p.m., and the attack began shortly thereafter.

Several of the up to 10 Ebola patients being treated at the hospital escaped during the chaos. The medical team has since left, the generator is no longer functioning, and patients who were too sick to flee were left without treatment, according to Ken Isaacs, vice president of the Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse, which has a nearby treatment center.

The medical team has since left the hospital. The generator supplying power to the facility is no longer functioning, and patients have fled

— François Berocan UderosDescribing the aftermath of the attack on Nyakunde Hospital.

This attack underscores the persistent difficulties health authorities face in combating Ebola in eastern Congo. Mistrust of medical teams, community resistance, and pervasive insecurity have repeatedly hampered containment efforts. The latest outbreak, Congo's 17th, has resulted in 2,073 confirmed cases and 796 deaths. This is not the first time health facilities have been targeted; similar violence occurred during a 2018-2020 outbreak that claimed the lives of more than 25 health workers.

The attack underscores the difficulties health authorities face in tackling Ebola in eastern Congo, where mistrust of medical teams, community resistance and insecurity have repeatedly disrupted treatment and containment efforts.

— ReutersAnalyzing the broader implications of the hospital attack.

The security risks have also led to protests and strike threats from health workers, who feel their pay does not adequately compensate for the demanding and stressful conditions. Samaritan's Purse evacuated its staff and transferred healthy patients from their adjacent treatment center due to safety concerns.

We evacuated our people and those well enough in the ETC (Ebola treatment center) got out and ran. All of Samaritan's Purse got out, and we haven't gone back since. There are roadblocks, and we don't feel it is safe

— Ken IsaacsExplaining Samaritan's Purse's evacuation from their facility near Nyakunde Hospital.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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