Kenyan health workers demand protection after first Ebola death

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union has called on the government to protect health workers after the country reported its first case of Ebola. 

"Our health workers must not be the weakest link in our response. They must be of first line of protection," the union's secretary-general, Dr. Divji Atellah, said in statement on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Aden Duale announced the death of a Kenyan national who had contracted the virus while living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The patient, a 40-year-old businessman, fell ill around a month ago and had been treated in the DRC, Duale told reporters. He travelled overland to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and then flew to Nairobi on October 3, where he received treatment.

He eventually died on Monday evening. 

Dr. Divji Atellah, demanded that the Kenyan government act with "urgency, transparency and responsibility." 

He said healthcare professionals who had come in contact with the infected patient must "receive immediate monitoring, psychological support and appropriate follow-up." 

The union also called for "rigorous" contact tracing and adequate preparedness of facilities. 

Kenyan authorities have identified 28 contacts of the deceased, including family members and healthcare workers, but none have tested positive for the virus so far. 

Authorities are pursuing a further 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the same flight and said that potential quarantine for those at risk had been prepared.

Kenya had never previously reported an Ebola case. Neighbouring Uganda recorded 20 — almost all people who had travelled from the DRC — and two deaths, before being declared Ebola-free in August.

As of October 2, the World Health Organization had recorded 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 cases since the emergence in the DRC of the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is still neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.