After a two-month emergency intervention in Equator Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, D.R.Congo, the medical team called Doctors Without Borders, MSF, has begun handing over Ebola response activities to the Congolese Ministry of Health and other non-governmental organisations in Mbandaka, Bikoro, Itipo and Iboko.
In the words of the Emergency Coordinator for MSF in Equator Province, Henry Gray, “This Ebola outbreak is not yet officially over but we are very pleased with the progress that has been made”. He assaured that given the low volume of cases and the increasing expertise of local staff, the Ministry of Health is well placed to finish the work which was jointly started.
Throughout the course of the outbreak, officially declared two months ago, Congolese Ministry of Health teams supported by MSF in Bikoro, Itipo, Mbandaka and Iboko, provided care to 38 confirmed patients, 24 of whom survived and returned to their homes while 14 died. Over 120 other patients who showed symptoms consistent with Ebola were isolated and tested before being allowed to return home after testing negative for the virus.
The handover process began with the closure of MSF’s Ebola Transit Centre at the Itipo General Reference Hospital on 20 June. All new suspect patients are now cared for at the nearby Ebola Treatment Centre managed by the organisation ALIMA which is also taking care of outreach and surveillance activities in the affected areas and will assist the Ministry of Health to run a clinic for Ebola survivors.
An MSF team is currently constructing a small isolation unit at the Mbandaka General Reference Hospital. When completed, any new suspect patient will be isolated and tested for the virus in this new facility. The 40- bed Ebola Treatment Centre constructed by MSF on the outskirts of Mbandaka will be disinfected and dismantled by early July.
