Medical officers sanitize areas in Ebola prone areas in DRC. [Courtesy]
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has opposed reported negotiations between the Kenyan government and the United States over plans to establish an Ebola quarantine and treatment facility at Laikipia Air Base, warning that the move could undermine the country’s health security.
In a statement issued on Thursday, KMPDU Secretary-General Dr. Davji Bhimji Atellah accused the government of engaging in what he termed “backdoor negotiations” without transparency or public participation.
The union alleged that Kenya risked being turned into a “containment colony” for a deadly disease originating outside the country, raising concerns over reports that the facility would host exposed or infected U.S. citizens linked to the ongoing Bundibugyo strain Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
“We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate,” Dr. Atellah said.
