Kenyan Court Blocks US Plan for Ebola Quarantine Facility for Americans
A Kenyan high court temporarily suspended a US plan to establish a 50-bed quarantine facility in Kenya for Americans exposed to Ebola, citing constitutional concerns and public health risks. The court's decision came after opposition from Kenyan doctors and civil rights groups who feared the facility could introduce the deadly virus into their country.
What Happened
A Kenyan court Friday suspended a Trump administration plan to establish a makeshift field hospital in Kenya to quarantine and treat Americans exposed to or infected with Ebola. High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi on Friday ordered a halt to the agreement on the facility, pending a ruling in a legal challenge brought by activists. The court, citing a threat to life, issued its ruling on the day U.S. officials said the facility would begin operating.
Senior U.S. officials said the 50-bed unit at an air force base in central Kenya would serve Americans who have been exposed to the virus but are still asymptomatic and would become operational on Friday. The facility's location was scheduled to be located on the Laikipia Airbase, about 125 miles north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with additional isolation and biocontainment capacity to be added later, according to the US official.
Why It Matters
Since the outbreak was confirmed in mid-May, there have been more than 1,000 suspected and confirmed cases, including 246 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The plan to launch this week a health facility in Kenya for Americans who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus has received widespread criticism – from both Kenyan doctors and US officials working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The main doctors' union in Kenya and the Law Society of Kenya told CNN they oppose the plan, saying it risks importing Ebola into the East African nation, which has no cases as of Thursday.
Reactions and Context
"The secretive, unilateral establishment of an Ebola quarantine facility raises grave constitutional concerns regarding the rights to life, health, fair administrative action, public participation, and parliamentary oversight," the Katiba Institute said in a statement. Meanwhile in the United States, CDC officials strongly recommended against the plan to send Americans to Kenya, with the agency's acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, also reportedly advising against it, according to a CDC source working on the Ebola response operations.
The dispute comes as health authorities race to contain the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in northeastern DRC, where overstretched health workers, limited medical supplies, and ongoing conflict and displacement have hampered efforts to stop the virus from spreading. Unlike several other forms of Ebola, the Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
What to Watch Next
The case is set to return to court on June 2. The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it would commit $13.5 million toward Kenya's Ebola preparedness efforts.