MSF to open 3 additional treatment centres in DRC to fight ongoing outbreak

International humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) will set up three additional facilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to provide medical aid to people affected by the ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the country’s Equateur province.

“We put in place a treatment center, and we plan to put in place three other ones. One is in Bikoro, and another will be in Mbandaka.“The two other ones we are waiting for more epidemiological information to check where is the best location to set up those treatment centers,” Axelle Ronsse, the emergency coordinator at MSF Operational Centre Brussels, told Sputnik .

The DR Congo Ministry of Public Health publicly declared the beginning of the EVD epidemic on May 8.

The majority of cases are in the Bikoro health zone, while others were reported in the Iboko and Wangata health zones.

Ronsse added that the treatment centers would have five to 10 beds each, with the center in Mbandaka already being set up for use in the coming days.

“When you think of building them, they will not be big, they will be five to ten beds, and it should be done in the following days, weeks.

“The first one is already in place and the other one, [Wednesday] we start a second one, and in the following days we hope that it will also be in place [in Mbandaka],” Ronsse said.

Ronsse stated that MSF would consider increasing their presence and capacity in the DRC if there were any changes to the dynamic of the outbreak.

“Now, at this stage we have the capacity to answer to what is happening today and see if the situation evolves, maybe we have to send a bit more people and material, but at this stage we are working at full capacity,” Ronsse said.

The last confirmed Ebola epidemic in the Equateur province was in the Boende health zone in 2014.

During the epidemic, there were 24 confirmed Ebola cases.This is the DR Congo’s ninth EVD outbreak since the virus was discovered in the country in 1976.