Red Cross workers arrive at a health center to transport people who died of Ebola in Rwampara, Congo, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
BUNIA, Congo — Anxious healthcare workers in eastern Congo said Wednesday they are underprotected and undertrained in the face of a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak of a rare type of the virus in one of the world’s most remote and vulnerable places.
“It’s truly sad and painful because we’ve already been through a security crisis, and now Ebola is here too,” said Justin Ndasi, a resident of Bunia, site of the first known death that was announced last week after what experts call a worrying delay in detecting the virus.
The response unfolds in a region long threatened by armed groups that have kept a large part of the population on the run and control a major city where Ebola cases have been confirmed, complicating health workers’ catch-up efforts to trace the outbreak. The World Health Organization, which noted a low risk globally, has said “patient zero” still has not been found.
In Bunia, where tons of health supplies have been airlifted, residents said masks have become harder to find and some disinfectants that previously sold for 2,500 Congolese francs (about $1) now cost up to 10,000 francs (over $4).
‘He started bleeding and vomiting a lot’
At a treatment center in Rwampara, healthcare workers in protective gear handled the bodies of suspected Ebola victims, in silence.
Families who tend to wash loved ones' bodies themselves watched helplessly as workers disinfected them and placed them into coffins for secure burial sites. Some relatives burst into tears.
The disease struck suddenly, they said, describing a rapid deterioration after symptoms were mistaken for illnesses such as malaria.
“He told me his heart was hurting, and I thought it was his stomach,” said Botwine Swanze, who lost her son. “Then he started crying because of the pain in his stomach. After that, he started vomiting. Then he started bleeding and vomiting a lot.”
Source: Korea Times News
