Aru, October 22nd, 2026 (CPA).- Treating a patient with Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the haemorrhagic phase can cost up to 1,000 US dollars a day in personal protective equipment (PPE), Dr Jacques Amanga, chief medical officer of the Aru health zone in Ituri province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the press on Thursday. “Caring for a patient with Ebola virus disease in the hemorrhagic phase can cost up to 1,000 US dollars a day in personal protective equipment (PPE), given the requirements for medical care and monitoring,” said Dr Amanga. He explained that treating patients with complications, particularly hemorrhagic ones, requires healthcare staff to use PPE on a massive scale.“For a patient in the hemorrhagic phase, we use an average of ten sets of PPE per day, particularly during ward rounds, when taking samples for laboratory tests and during medical monitoring,” he added.
Health precautions also extend to activities related to feeding patients, which increases the consumption of this equipment.
With an estimated average price of 100 US dollars per unit, expenditure can thus reach 1,000 dollars per day per patient. “In the Aru health zone, we have used around 2,500 PPE items, amounting to US$250,000,” said the zone’s chief medical officer, emphasizing the scale of the resources mobilized to ensure the safety of healthcare staff.
In light of these exorbitant costs, he emphasized the need for collective action to strengthen prevention measures and limit the spread of the disease, the repercussions of which extend beyond the health sector alone. ACP/