KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Angry young men stormed a hospital treating Ebola patients at the heart of the latest outbreak of the disease in eastern Congo on Sunday evening, forcing the medical staff to scramble to evacuate the patients as gunfire rang out in the area. It was not immediately known if anyone was hurt in the attack on the Monbgwalu General Hospital but Dr. Richard Lokudu, the hospital’s medical director, told The Associated Press the attackers demanded that two bodies of their kin be handed over to them. There was gunfire and the medics were trying to evacuate the patients and the staff, Lokudu said over the phone. “Monbgwalu General Hospital is on general alert,” he added. He did not have any further details of the unfolding turmoil.The attack — the third in a week’s time on health care facilities where medical workers struggle with lack of resources to treat suspected Ebola cases — underlined the challenges of the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
Bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. ‘
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