Protesters set fire to an eastern DR Congo hospital after being prevented from retrieving the body of a suspected Ebola victim.
Family and friends had gathered at Rwampara General Hospital, near Bunia in Ituri province, but were prevented from removing the body due to strict burial rules linked to the virus.
Local witnesses recalled the incident and said that the hospital was attacked and the tents were set on fire. “They started throwing projectiles at the hospital. They even set fire to tents that were used as isolation wards,” local politician Luc Malembe Malembe told the BBC.
Police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd. The fire also consumed a body prepared for burial, along with several hospital tents.
Reportedly, a healthcare worker was injured after being hit by stones.
The body was not handed over to family members due to strict protocols linked to the virus, as victims remain highly infectious after death. The World Health Organisation (WHO) mandates ‘safe and dignified burials’ conducted exclusively by trained teams in protective gear.
The healthcare officials at the hospital were later placed under military protection.
According to the official, a lack of awareness about the disease led to the attack. Jean Claude Mukendi, coordinating the Ebola security response in Ituri, said that the protesters did not “grasp the reality of the disease”.
According to Malembe, those in the remote areas suspect that the aid groups and hospitals are creating the disease for financial gain.
During the time of the attack, six patients were being treated in the tents.
According to the WHO, nearly 600 suspected cases and about 139 deaths have been reported so far. WHO has described it as a “public health emergency of international concern”.
The current outbreak has been linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no approved vaccine. Concerns are also rising about the spread of the virus into areas controlled by the M23 rebel group. The group has reported a case in South Kivu province and said it would work with international agencies to contain the outbreak.
Why protesters set the Ebola treatment centre in DRC on fire
