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Health workers at an Ebola treatment center in eastern Congo went on strike on Saturday, demanding pay. The move has disrupted patient care in the country’s rapidly growing outbreak.
The number of confirmed cases in Congo has reached 2,973, including 1,309 deaths, according to government data released on Friday, in what authorities say is the fastest-growing outbreak in history.
The Elikya Ebola Treatment Center in Bunia, Ituri province, has come to a standstill after doctors, nurses and security personnel stopped work.
About 100 health workers protested outside the medical center on Saturday. They said the unpaid bonuses undermined morale and interfered with patient care, calling on the Congolese authorities to settle their back wages so they could continue their work.
“We need to be paid, because at the moment this disease is spreading in the treatment center,” said Martin Bolombi, one of the striking workers.
“Five people have died who are still inside there. A solution must be found for us.”
In a statement released Friday, the workers said they voted unanimously to strike until “concrete solutions” are found to resolve “two months of unpaid performance bonuses.”
The claim comes after the PM’s visit
This strike comes a day after the Congolese Prime Minister Judith Suminwa arrived in Ituri, visiting major treatment centers in Rwampara and Mongbwalu to check where the outbreak of the disease has occurred. During his visit to Mongbwalu, he was faced with the urgent needs of health workers who were protesting over payment issues.
Dr. Adelard Lufungula, the Ebola response operations manager, said on Saturday the payment issue was “being resolved,” with workers now being paid in mobile money instead of cash, and that the backlog “should be cleared” in the coming days.
Last week, health workers at Bunia General Hospital, which is the main medical center in the region, went on strike due to unpaid wages. Some told The Associated Press that they had not been paid since they started working at the beginning of the pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that more than 100 health workers have contracted the disease since the disease began.
The central African nation has been battling an Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus since May 15. A total of 766 patients are still in isolation or in hospitals, while 540 have recovered so far, according to data from the Congolese Ministry of Health.
The eastern province of Ituri accounts for nearly 90 percent of confirmed cases.
Patient zero has not been identified
The outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track despite a mounting response. The main challenge is that patient zero has yet to be identified in this outbreak and migration from armed conflict and illegal mining in the region has made it difficult to trace the thousands who have come into contact with the virus.
The response is also hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health facilities, ongoing conflict in eastern Congo and mistrust among local communities.
The current outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not the first, but the new strain, the lack of tools and the war are making it worse. Nationally, CBC’s Eli Glasner talks to doctors on the ground about what they’re up against and why they say foreign aid cuts increase the risk.
In addition, there is a lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, unlike the more common Zaire virus for which there is a vaccine and which caused most of the Congo’s 16 outbreaks.
Enrollment in a much-anticipated trial of two potential Ebola drugs has just begun in Ituri.
The WHO says there is little risk of the disease spreading around the world outside of Central Africa, noting that Ebola is spread through direct contact with an infected person’s body fluids rather than air, making it more difficult to spread than respiratory viruses.
The health risk to Canadians is considered low, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. Earlier this week, Ottawa banned the entry of foreigners who had been in Congo in the past 21 days, as part of an effort to stem the spread. The temporary measure will last until Aug. 29.
