Ebola response hit as DRC health workers down tools over unpaid bonuses

Ebola response hit as DRC health workers down tools over unpaid bonuses
Ebola response hit as DRC health workers down tools over unpaid bonuses - Health teams in personal protective equipment respond to the Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo. (Photo: WHO/Joël Lumbala)
Health teams in personal protective equipment respond to the Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo. (Photo: WHO/Joël Lumbala)

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It also comes a week after health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region's largest referral facility, downed their tools over unpaid salaries.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ebola response suffered a fresh setback on Saturday after nearly 100 frontline health workers abandoned their posts at a treatment centre in the eastern province of Ituri.
The health workers were demanding payment of overdue bonuses as the country's record Ebola outbreak continues to grow. 
The strike disrupted services at the Elikya Ebola Treatment Centre in Bunia, where doctors, nurses and support staff stopped work, citing that they had gone two months without receiving the bonuses promised for their role in responding to the outbreak.

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According to the Associated Press, the workers gathered outside the treatment centre to demand immediate payment, saying the delays had lowered staff morale and made it increasingly difficult to provide care for patients.
They insisted they would remain on strike until the outstanding bonuses were paid.
The strike comes as the Ebola outbreak in the country continues to worsen. More than 3,000 confirmed cases and 1,309 deaths have been reported since the outbreak was declared on May 15, with Ituri accounting for nearly 90 per cent of all infections.

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It also comes a week after health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region's largest referral facility, downed their tools over unpaid salaries.
Some of the workers claimed that they had not received any pay since joining the Ebola response, raising fresh concerns that payment delays are weakening efforts to contain the outbreak.
The situation is made even more difficult by the growing number of health workers infected while responding to the outbreak.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 100 healthcare workers have contracted the virus since the outbreak began, highlighting the dangers faced by doctors, nurses and other frontline workers. At the same time, 766 patients remain in hospital or isolation, while 540 have recovered.
The outbreak in the DRC is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment. However, researchers have taken a significant step toward changing that after the University of Oxford announced on Friday that the first volunteer had received an experimental vaccine designed to protect against the strain.
The early-stage trial marks the first time a Bundibugyo-specific Ebola vaccine has been tested in humans and is expected to provide important data on its safety and ability to trigger an immune response.

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