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Kenyan President William Ruto has defended plans to open a United States-backed Ebola quarantine facility in Laikipia following criticism and public outrage.
The US isolation centre is intended to treat US citizens believed to have been exposed to the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The 50-bed facility, which was due to open on Friday, has triggered protests in Kenya and raised concerns about exposing Kenyans to the deadly Ebola virus.
On Monday, Ruto justified the partnership with United States President Donald Trump on the Ebola facility, describing it as a partnership with “friends who have worked with Kenya.”
“When President Trump asked the government of Kenya to support them by having a centre in Laikipia Air Base, I gave the okay because it was an agreement and a partnership with friends who have worked with Kenya for 30, 40 years,” Ruto said.
“The American government has supported us. They have deployed huge resources in Kenya to work with us on HIV/AIDS, to work with us on other diseases. They worked with us on Ebola.”
Credit: Reuters
The Kenyan president added that there are 23 other such facilities across the country.
“We have 23 other facilities set up in Kenyatta Hospital, the Police Hospital in Nairobi, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenyatta Hospital in Thika, Alupe Hospital in Busia, and many other areas,” he added.
“These facilities are meant to make sure that there is proper screening and that, if there is any positive identification of people who have Ebola, they are immediately isolated and treated so that we avoid any spread of the disease.”
Doctors in the East African country have accused the Ruto administration of engaging in “backdoor negotiations” and have demanded the immediate release of any bilateral agreements underpinning the plan.
A rights group, the Katiba Institute, warned that the arrangement posed “grave and imminent risks” to public health in the country. The group sued the Kenyan government, and a Kenyan High Court suspended the US plan to establish a quarantine facility for Americans until petitions against it are heard on Tuesday.
