A six-year-old child with Ebola who was abducted from a treatment centre in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been found alive, British medics confirmed today. The kidnapping, which occurred on Tuesday evening in the city of Beni, sparked a frantic search involving local authorities, the World Health Organisation, and UK-backed medical teams. The child, whose name has not been released, was taken by armed men from a clinic run by the charity ALIMA.
Doctors from the UK’s National Health Service, deployed as part of the emergency response, worked alongside Congolese health workers to trace the patient. The rapid response, described as “textbook” by one UK medic, led to the child’s safe recovery late Wednesday night. “This was a race against time,” said Dr.
Helen Grant, a British infectious disease specialist on the ground. “Every hour a patient with Ebola is untreated increases the risk to the community. We are relieved and grateful that the child is now back in care.
” The incident highlights the volatility of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo, which has been complicated by militia violence and community mistrust. More than 2,000 cases have been reported since August 2018. UK government officials stressed that the safety of medical workers and patients remains paramount.
The child is now receiving treatment and is in stable condition.
