A portable biosecure unit has been deployed at an Ebola treatment centre in Rwampara.
Footage filmed on Saturday shows health workers installing the transparent isolation structure and treating a patient.
“It’s a more secure emergency chamber for epidemics,” said Dr Modet Camara, medical officer at ALIMA in Rwampara.
“This is a device designed for the safety of the patient and also the safety of the staff. We can monitor patients closely, and families can still see the patient directly despite the isolation measures,” he added.
Officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), who visited the facility, said the chamber represents an important step forward but stressed that major challenges remain.
“The enormous need that still exists here, both in terms of human resources and logistics and response, means we are really asking for an acceleration of interventions and resource mobilisation,” said Professor Jean-Jacques Nachage, advisory member of Africa CDC.
“This is truly urgent if we want to contain this epidemic,” he added.
Dr Richard Kojan pioneered the CUBE in 2010 after seeing far higher Ebola mortality in under-resourced settings than in European hospitals. The portable biosecure treatment unit was designed for rapid deployment in low-resource outbreaks, allowing safer monitoring and treatment.
The World Health Organisation said that the outbreak had risen to 676 confirmed cases and 136 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with Ituri province accounting for more than 90% of infections. Neighbouring Uganda has also recorded 19 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak. WHO continues to classify the risk inside the DRC as “very high” as the Bundibugyo strain spreads to new health zones.
Source: Viory
