Intruders attacked a treatment center run by Doctors Without Borders for the second time in four days, leaving four Ebola patients missing and forcing the medical aid group to suspend its operations in the area Thursday.
The decision was made after unknown assailants burned tents and other equipment Wednesday at the treatment center in the eastern city of Butembo. Assailants also set fire Sunday to another eastern Congo clinic that Doctors Without Borders operates in Katwa, killing one person and injuring another.
The organization said it would be temporarily suspending its efforts in both communities.
“In light of these two violent incidents, we have no choice but to suspend our activities until further notice,” said Hugues Robert, the group’s emergency desk manager. “As medical responders, it is very painful to have to leave behind patients, their families, and other members of the community at such a critical time in the Ebola response.”
The latest violence has intensified fears that communities will continue to resist efforts to halt the country’s 10th Ebola outbreak. Health workers in eastern Congo have struggled to win the trust of residents amid attacks by armed groups vying for control of the mineral-rich region.
The Health Ministry said 32 of the 38 people being treated for suspected cases of Ebola fled during Wednesday’s attack, while eight of the 12 patients with confirmed cases remained in bed. Patients who have been located since the violence were transferred temporarily to another treatment center.
