Dozens of workers at an Ebola treatment centre in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo went on strike Monday, protesting unpaid salaries and bonuses.
The striking staff at Rwampara General Hospital in Ituri province include epidemiologists, case investigators, drivers and gravediggers, who say they have not received their wages from the Congolese authorities.
The protesters shut down the hospital and blocked the road leading to the medical facility.
Some health workers at the treatment centre and field staff had already begun their strike last week, accusing the authorities of failing to pay them since the Ebola outbreak began in May.
"We don't know how it is possible to not have been paid for two months," health worker Bahati Claude of the Rwampara health zone told The Associated Press. "We don't want to give up the job."
The Congolese government declared a new Ebola outbreak on May 15 after the disease had been spreading for weeks without official detection, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The current outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
During a visit to Ituri last week, Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba said the government is reviewing the list of personnel involved in controlling the outbreak after discovering that some unrelated names had been added to the payroll.
"We must ensure that these payments reach the right people," Kamba said. "We have faced a few challenges, notably changes to the lists, which have led to complaints from people saying they are not being paid even though they are working. We have the means to sort this out."
According to Congolese authorities, the country has so far recorded 1,926 confirmed Ebola cases, including 702 deaths.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X on Monday that a second US citizen, a humanitarian worker in eastern Congo who contracted Ebola, had been transferred to Germany for treatment. The first American infected during the outbreak was a doctor working in Congo in its early stages.
Last week, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the current outbreak is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever recorded on the African continent.