Kenya Health Minister says halting US-backed Ebola quarantine center
Health Minister Aden Duale told a court he ordered an immediate stop to construction, after being held in contempt for ignoring previous court orders. The
Health Minister Aden Duale told a court he ordered an immediate stop to construction, after being held in contempt for ignoring previous court orders. The plans to set up the facility prompted protests and unrest. Kenya's Health Minister Aden Duale assured a Kenyan court on Tuesday that he had ordered an immediate halt to the construction of a US-backed Ebola quarantine facility at an air base. Duale had been found in contempt of court on Monday for failing to observe previous orders to suspend the construction pending an evaluation by the judiciary. The tented facility in the central town of Nanyuki was supposed to serve as a treatment center for US nationals should any contract Ebola amid the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The plans to build it, first announced in May, had led to sometimes violent protests, with a total of three people being killed in the vicinity. What else do we know about the paused plans? Justice Patricia Nyaundi Mande disccharged Duale with no further punishment after receiving the assurance from the minister, but warned him against further disobedience. "I have directed the immediate and complete cessation of any intended construction, site preparation, or related activities concerning the Laikipia Air Base facility pending the hearing and determination of the substantive petition or until further orders of this court," Duale said during Tuesday's sentencing hearing.
The facility was being constructed at the Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, with some 50 isolation beds. US medical staff were expected to manage it. The plans prompted considerable domestic backlash and protests. Kenya has never recorded a case of Ebola and there was public concern about bringing patients onto its territory — even directly airlifting them to a secure medical facility. Kenya Ebola panic turns deadly over US quarantine facility To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Rights groups also successfully petitioned the court, saying the facility was being constructed secretly and without consultations. The government initially disregarded orders to pause the construction pending checks. Flight tracking data, satellite imagery and US officials speaking on condition of anonymity had pointed to continued preparations at the site despite the initial court order. The sole US citizen to have contracted Ebola so far in the current outbreak — a doctor working as a medical missionary in the heart of the outbreak in eastern DRC — was flown into Germany for treatment at a specialist facility in Berlin.
The BriefWire