Nairobi —
Plans to open a medical facility in Kenya this week for Americans who may have been infected with the Ebola virus have drawn widespread criticism from both Kenyan doctors and U.S. officials working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Kenya’s main doctors’ union and the Law Society of Kenya told CNN they oppose the plan, saying it risks introducing Ebola to the East African country, which had no cases as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, in the United States, CDC officials involved in Ebola response efforts said they strongly recommended against the plan to send Americans to Kenya, and the agency’s acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharyya, reportedly recommended against the plan.
A CDC official told CNN that some agency officials are “outraged by this” and believe the plan “will make it difficult to recruit and staff for Ebola response efforts.”
CDC officials said they have “highly skilled colleagues in Kenya,” but added: “It is difficult to imagine that the standard of care could ever meet the standards of treatment facilities developed over many years and at great expense in the United States, let alone aspects of repatriation, reunification with family, and other support services.”
CNN has reached out to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the CDC, for comment.
Trump administration officials previously told CNN that “the facility’s treatment capacity is expected to address the full spectrum of Ebola, including critical care needs, but each case will be evaluated for transfer to more advanced care as needed to maximize patient outcomes.”
The outbreak, centered in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has killed at least 238 people and more than 1,000 people are believed to have been infected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare form for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, has also invaded neighboring Uganda, where at least seven cases have been reported linked to the outbreak, including one death.
Doctors demand transparency in Ebola facility contracts
A senior Trump administration official said Thursday that the United States has received approval from the Kenyan government to establish an isolation and quarantine facility in the country. However, the Kenyan government has yet to officially comment on the agreement.
A 50-bed isolation ward will be operational from Friday, another government official said. It will be located at Laikipia Air Base, about 195 miles north of Nairobi. As of Thursday, no patients were scheduled to go to this unit.
Additional isolation and biocontainment units will be available on site later. If someone develops symptoms or tests positive, the person will be evacuated to another facility, the official said. The CDC and the State Department are working to determine where in Europe these facilities will be located.
Care will be provided by personnel from a U.S. Public Health Service commissioned unit that has already departed for Kenya. A senior official said about 30 police officers underwent three days of training this week, with more expected to undergo training this weekend. There are no approved treatments specific to Bundibugyo virus, but experimental drugs such as remdesivir are becoming available.
Kenya’s public health secretary, Mary Muthoni Muriuki, said on Thursday that the government was consulting with partners, including the United States, and insisted they were taking steps to “ensure that all Kenyans are very safe.”
“We need full transparency from the Kenyan government as to why it has agreed to accept this proposal,” Dr. Dabji Bimzi Atela, secretary general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), told CNN.
He also questioned why the Trump administration would want to set up isolation facilities exclusively for Americans, given that Kenya’s health care system is chronically underfunded.
“Why would the United States choose Kenya when the epicenter of the outbreak is Congo?” asked the leader of a union representing more than 10,000 doctors in public and private hospitals.
The governments of Kenya and the United States recently renegotiated the amount of aid funding for Kenya’s health efforts as part of the United States’ new global health strategy. Under the terms of a bilateral agreement signed in December, Kenya faces a 21% cut in global health aid funding from the United States over the next five years, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research institute.
According to KFF, the new agreement provides for the US to contribute $1.6 billion to Kenya between 2026 and 2030, further increasing the burden on Kenya’s health system. The deal means approximately $423 million less funding for the period compared to previous U.S. funding levels. The deal was immediately challenged in Kenya’s High Court, with opponents criticizing its terms as unfavorable.
In a statement criticizing Ebola-related facilities, Atera added: “We will not sit idly by while Kenya is treated as a containment colony for a deadly pathogen we did not create.” “If it’s too dangerous for America, it’s too dangerous for Kenya.”
The Katiba Institute, a civil society organization focused on constitutional issues in Kenya, is challenging the US medical facility proposal in court.
The Law Society of Kenya also called on the Kenyan government to refuse to build the facility.
Law Society President Charles Kanjama referred to comments by Marco Rubio during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, in which the US Secretary of State said: “We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola into the United States.”
“If the United States, a developed country, is concerned about the health and safety of its people, then we are demanding that the Kenyan government be held to the same standards as the American government,” Kanjama told CNN. “This is completely paradoxical and clearly attempts to create a double standard when it comes to our health care system and public safety: keeping the United States safe while putting Kenyans at risk of infection.”
Kenya’s two major newspapers, the Daily Nation and the Standard, both carried news of the medical facility deal front and center. Critics have also expressed disbelief at President William Ruto’s government’s consent to the Ebola facility, and the issue has been at the center of debate on Kenyan television, talk shows and radio.
Widespread criticism spilled from the air to the streets, as Kenyans voiced their concerns about the deadly virus every day.
“Tell the government not to bring sick Americans here,” a Nairobi security guard told CNN as he stood guard against people entering the business district. “I come into contact with a lot of people every day in this job. If Ebola were to come here, how would I protect myself?”
The WHO director-general on Thursday issued a petition calling for an emergency ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where fighting continues between government forces and rebel militias. As a result of persistent violence, the region is grappling with a mass displacement crisis, in addition to other health problems such as malaria, measles and malnutrition.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced a visit to the Central African country to support frontline health workers.
Tedros warned that the spread of infections in Ituri, the epicenter of the crisis, was “outpacing” containment efforts, calling the situation a “catastrophic collision of disease and conflict.”
“We cannot do this work if the people we are trying to help are prevented from doing so or endangered,” he said in a letter released Thursday. “I appeal directly to all warring parties in the region: please declare a ceasefire, even for a short period of time. Even if it’s just to allow medical workers through… even a temporary ceasefire will save lives.”
CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht contributed to this report.
