Ebola Treatment Centre Resumes Operations in Congo After Attack

Ebola Campaign in DRC

An Ebola treatment center located at the epicenter of the current outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, has resumed operations after it was attacked last month, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday.

The center run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the district of Katwa was set on fire on Feb. 24 by unknown attackers, forcing staff to evacuate patients.

It re-opened on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.

“For now it is managed by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF,” it said, referring to the United Nations children’s fund.

Aid workers have faced mistrust in some areas as they seek to contain the Ebola outbreak, which has become the most severe in Congo’s history. The WHO has said the distrust is fueled by false rumours about treatments and preference for traditional medicine.

Another MSF center in Butembo was also attacked in late February but reopened a week later.

MSF has pulled out from the area since the two attacks and has not said when it might resume medical activities.

The current Ebola epidemic, first declared last August, is believed to have killed at least 561 people so far and infected over 300 more.