Trump ordered US military to build Ebola quarantine site in Kenya.
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The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has launched a scathing attack on the Kenyan government over what it describes as “backdoor negotiations” with the United States to establish an Ebola quarantine and treatment facility at Laikipia Air Base.
The union accused the government of jeopardizing Kenya’s biosecurity and public health system by allegedly agreeing to host exposed or infected U.S. citizens during the ongoing Bundibugyo strain Ebola outbreak in Central Africa.
“As the vanguard of Kenya’s healthcare system, we are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid,” the union said.
“We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate.”
The union demanded that Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately make public any agreements or negotiations involving the proposed facility.
KMPDU questioned why Kenya had allegedly been identified as a quarantine destination despite the outbreak being concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
“If the United States believes the 12-hour medevac flight back to Washington is too dangerous for its citizens, by what logic is it safe to fly infected or exposed individuals into Kenyan airspace and drop them in Laikipia?” KMPDU said.
The union further criticized what it called the contradiction between government claims that Kenya’s public health system lacks adequate funding while allegedly facilitating a foreign-funded Ebola quarantine hub.
“Our public hospitals are currently structurally crippled. We lack basic diagnostic reagents, essential medicines, and functional intensive care infrastructure,” KMPDU said.
“Yet, the government is stretching our already thin national security and public health surveillance mechanisms to accommodate a foreign-funded biohazard hub.”
The doctors’ union also raised concerns over reports that the proposed facility could be staffed primarily by the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rather than Kenyan healthcare professionals.
“We will not tolerate an apartheid healthcare model on Kenyan soil,” the union warned.
KMPDU demanded that any such facility employ Kenyan doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers on permanent terms with hazardous duty allowances and full medical cover, arguing that thousands of trained Kenyan health professionals remain unemployed despite severe staffing shortages in public hospitals.
The union said Kenya faces a deficit of more than 100,000 healthcare workers and accused the government of failing to prioritize local healthcare needs.
In one of its strongest warnings yet, KMPDU issued the government with a 48-hour ultimatum to disclose details of the negotiations, threatening nationwide industrial action if the plan proceeds without transparency and consultation.
“Kenya is a sovereign republic, not a geopolitical isolation ward.”
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