How desperate bid to save Congolese national exposed Ugandan medics to Ebola

Protective goggles hang during a visit by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the Mulago National Referral Hospital Isolation Unit, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo Virus, in Mulago suburb, of Kampala, Uganda June 8, 2026. PHOTO/REUTERS

Four Ugandan health workers and an ambulance driver are currently battling for their lives at an isolation facility in Kampala after contracting the rare Bundibugyo Ebola virus strain.

The medical personnel were exposed during a high-risk, frantic attempt to resuscitate a dying Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national at Kampala Hospital.

The Congolese patient, who had secretly crossed into Uganda seeking advanced medical attention, later succumbed to the highly contagious hemorrhagic fever.The shocking revelation was made on Wednesday evening during a live, televised presidential address on the country’s current epidemic status. Speaking from State House, Dr. Charles Olaro, the Director General of Health Services, detailed the harrowing circumstances under which the frontline workers were exposed, triggering intense debate over medical safety protocols and border surveillance.

According to Dr. Olaro, the infected team comprises four clinical staff and one ambulance driver who transported the initial case. The crisis unfolded when the Congolese national collapsed into cardiac arrest shortly after admission at Kampala Hospital, a private facility in the capital.

Unaware that the patient was harboring the lethal Bundibugyo Ebola strain, the medical team rushed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and insert an endotracheal tube to restore his breathing."Your Excellency, as you clearly indicated, the people most at risk are really the health workers," Dr. Olaro informed President Yoweri Museveni during the briefing. "Of the five local cases we have registered, four are health workers from that single facility, and the fifth is the driver."

The disclosure prompted an immediate, sharp interjection from President Museveni, who questioned the professionalism of the medical team."Our health workers of Uganda, who handled the Congolese carelessly?" the President demanded.Defending the actions of the clinical team, Dr. Olaro explained that the medics were caught off guard by a sudden medical emergency and acted out of a primal instinct to save a dying patient, despite lacking the specialized personal protective equipment (PPE) mandatory for Ebola management.

"They handled the Congolese because this par