Two detainees with Mpox were recently listed in tye central prison of Gitega (political capital). They are receiving care at the regional hospital. At the same time, cases multiply in the province of Gitega. Medical sources and former patients say that the part reserved for Mpox cases is overwhelmed.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to our sources, the two prisoners are among detainees who benefit from a special status authorizing them to circulate in the city of Gitega whenever they want during the day, and return to prison in the evening. They were admitted to the Gitega Regional Hospital. The maternity part has been requisitioned to accommodate Mpox patients since the declaration of the first cases of the disease. Penitentiary sources doubt that there may be rapid and uncontrolled spread of the pandemic. Built in 1923 with a capacity of 400 prisoners, the central prison of Gitega currently houses 1730 detainees.

Multiplication of cases

The number of people affected by monkeypox continues to increase in Gitega, told SOS Médias Burundi an official of the ministry in charge of health. A former patient confirms the facts.

« The part reserved for them was overwhelmed. Several patients, including women sleeping on the ground until Tuesday, October 22, », told SOS Médias Burundi a man with monkeypox, in recovery. At the Gitega Regional Hospital, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) intervened. It built three temporary rescue rooms to unclog the Center for the Management of Mpox patients.

Great risk of contamination

An Mpox case treatment center in the commercial city of Bujumbura in Burundi (SOS Médias Burundi)

Even if people with MPOX are isolated in a care center, witnesses fear a great risk of contamination. They indicate that two patients can share the same bed, in addition to visitors who can enter the compartment without problem.

« Worse still, even if they are isolated in their compartment specific to them, patients suffering from monkeypox share the same latrines with the rest of the patients hospitalized at the regional Gitega hospital, » they say. Medical staff have received equipment to protect themselves, but the head of this health facility, Dr Éric Ndihokubwayo believes that vaccination remains one of the best solutions to protect themselves from the pandemic. In Burundi, unlike Congo, another country where the disease spreads to a very disturbing speed and where a new strain has been discovered in border regions with Burundi, and Rwanda which mainly faces the deadly Marburg virus, health authorities have not yet started to vaccinate medical staff and the population.

Neglected preventive measures

Handwashing devices were installed in public places such as markets and schools. But an SOS Médias Burundi reporter realized that prevention measures against the pandemic are not respected.

« People greet each other by shaking their hands, there are even some who kiss or make hugs. »
In the city of Gitega, repetitive water cuts are likely to promote the spread of the disease, according to residents.

Currently, Burundi has more than 1,200 cases, according to a report by the national body in charge of fighting monkeypox.

The little nation of East Africa has not recorded any death so far, according to the Burundian minister in charge of health Lydwine Baradahana.

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A hand of an isolated Mpox patient in a monkeypox case management center in the commercial city of Bujumbura (SOS Médias Burundi)