The World Health Organisation and the United Nations are just some of the global agencies that have condemned the killing on 19 April, of Dr Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, in an attack on an Ebola treatment centre in eastern DRCongo.
Dr Mouzoko, a Cameroonian epidemiologist deployed by WHO in response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRCongo, died in the attack at the Butembo University Hospital Ebola treatment centre.
Butembo, has been an epicentre of the current outbreak which is said to have claimed more than 800 lives. Two other personnel were injured.
“I and all of WHO are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and brother Dr Mouzoko. He put himself on the frontline to save lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. WHO Director-General said in a statement.
“This is a tragic reminder of the risks health workers take every day to protect the lives and health of others…We are outraged by this attack. Health workers and health facilities must never be targets,” he said.
“We are assessing the security situation to ensure the safety of all patients, health workers and Ebola responders”, said Dr Tedros. “At the same time, we remain committed to continue supporting the Ministry of Health of DRC to end this outbreak as quickly as possible.”
He later took to twitter to share further, the consequences of the attack on both local communities and the family of Dr Mouzoko: ” [the death] has huge ripple effects that are felt by the people they served, the communities in need, and of course their loved ones.”
Spare no effort
The attacks on Ebola treatment centres have been blamed on local militia suspicious of the source of the outbreak which they believe has been deliberately planted in the region by foreigners.
UN chief António Guterres called on the Congolese authorities “to spare no effort in identifying and swiftly bringing to justice the perpetrators” of this week’s attack, and expressed “the determination of the United Nations system to continue their work in support of the Congolese authorities to bring the Ebola outbreak to an end.”
The UN says, more than 1,200 confirmed and probable cases of Ebola have been recorded since the outbreak began, with more than 760 deaths confirmed.
