Tragedy struck the Bunia Evangelical Medical Centre in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Dr. Vladimir Maduali succumbed to Ebola early Sunday morning, marking the fourth staff fatality from the virus within a span of days. Just two days later, another blow hit the facility with the death of Dr. Tibenderana Katho Blaise, also a victim of Ebola.
Dr. Maduali, a recent graduate from the University of Bunia, had dedicated his efforts to the Rwampara region, an area in the eastern Ituri province critically affected by the Ebola outbreak. At only 30 years old, he passed away in an isolation center in Rwampara after enduring two days on oxygen therapy, as reported by his family.
“He was a person deeply passionate about impacting community health,” shared Dr. Richard Lokudu, the medical director at Mongbwalu Hospital, located about 45 miles from Bunia, the capital of Ituri. “His dedication to his work was unwavering.”
Since the outbreak’s identification earlier this month, Dr. Lokudu reported that five additional staff members at his hospital are suspected to have contracted Ebola. Among them, three have already died, with official testing lagging behind the swiftly rising number of infections and deaths.
Dr. Lokudu described the conditions under which they are battling the Ebola outbreak as “precarious and distressing,” underscoring the immense difficulties faced by healthcare workers on the front lines.
Lokudu says the conditions under which they are working to combat Ebola are “precarious and agonising”.
“We who are fighting Ebola work like soldiers. It may well be that others, myself included, will follow Vladimir tomorrow. We are fighting for the same cause: to save human lives from this Ebola epidemic,” he says.
Maduali was born in Kisangani, north-east DRC, his mother’s second child. He left in 2019 to move nearly 400 miles to Bunia to continue his studies in the town. His death has devastated his family, where he was the main breadwinner.
Josué Maduali, his younger brother, says: “He was passionate about medicine. From a young age, he saw his future only in medicine. That is why he studied maths and physics at secondary school and medicine at university – with the aim of saving lives.”
Their aunt had opened a little restaurant in Kisangani to raise the money for his school fees, he says. “It was with the ultimate aim of him becoming useful to society one day.”
Three volunteers from the Congolese Red Cross, working at the Mongbwalu hospital in Ituri, have also died over 11 days. They are believed to have contracted Ebola while moving bodies.
“The volunteers – Alikana Udumusi Augustin, Sezabo Katanabo and Ajiko Chandiru Viviane – are believed to have contracted Ebola virus on duty, while carrying out dead-body management activities as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement on Saturday.
Announcing that the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, would be visiting the country to witness the response on the ground, the Congolese health ministrysaid on Tuesday that more than 900 suspected cases and 220 deaths had been reported as of 25 May in the provinces of North and South Kivu and Ituri.
According to health professionals, the Ebola outbreak – the 17th in the DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976, this time of a new strain – was not detected quickly. This is thought to have contributed to its spread. The WHO has urged countries neighbouring the DRC to coordinate across borders to prevent the virus from spreading regionally.
Lokudu says: “The problem is that the disease wasn’t recognised at the outset. It was only when we noticed the deaths of people on the frontline, that’s when we realised the problem was becoming increasingly serious and that we needed to investigate to find out what was causing the spate of deaths.”
Koko Buroko, an international relations analyst, believes the dismantling of western development aid programmes has increased rural communities’ vulnerability to Ebola.
“Most African countries whose health sectors have not progressed rely on international aid. In a country like the DRC, health services are run by numerous organisations. Many NGOs in the development sector were funded by USAID, which no longer exists,” he says.
Jean-Jacques Tamfum Muyembe, head of the National Institute for Biomedical Research and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus in 1976, acknowledged the threat to frontline staff in the fight against Ebola.
“There is no cure for this disease,” he says. “Together with our partners, we are considering how to protect those on the frontline, including healthcare workers.”
Josué Maduali says when he last spoke to his brother, the young doctor was shocked to think he could have contracted Ebola. “Among the things he feared most was death. When he was admitted to hospital, he didn’t believe he could be suspected of having Ebola. His jaw dropped,” he says.
“When he tested positive for Ebola, he was psychologically devastated,” his brother says, but adds: “When he was taken to isolation at Mongbwalu hospital, he told me he had a better chance of surviving this dangerous disease.”
Maduali hopes the DRC’s leaders will honour the work his brother and other healthcare workers have done.
