Dario Gramuglia is a Logistics Consultant supporting Ebola Treatment Centres in Butembo City

Logistics work means doing whatever is needed to provide support to the medical staff. Our work means that they can concentrate on the care of patients without worrying if there is a vehicle to go to hospital or back home later or whether there will be the necessary equipment or drugs.

One of my roles here is to make sure that the staff who work inside the treatment centres have the personal protection equipment that they need in order to be able to care for their patients. I also manage the supply of food to the hospitals and ensure that the generators are serviced and fuelled because we are in places without constant supply of power.

Every day in Butembo City we produce between 20 and 25 cubic metres of waste which must be decontaminated. The safe treatment of waste is an important part of the response to the outbreak. We cannot allow Butembo City to become a dumping area.

We also have to ensure there is always space available for any patient that seeks help at the hospitals. We are always ready to add beds, even if the place is already overcrowded. The biggest challenge we have is insecurity. Recently a militia group attacked the town of Butembo and for a couple of hours there was heavy shooting. That was very scary. As United Nations staff, we have been trained on how to react appropriately in such situations but for patients who are left stuck in hospital beds, our biggest worry is that nothing happens to them while health workers run for safety.

In this kind of intervention where massive resources are needed and the number of patients are overwhelming, we cannot work alone. We need the support of partners and we work closely with the World Food Programme (WFP) for logistics (mostly construction), UNICEF (on sanitation) and many other organizations.

It is a good feeling when we see people who were very sick walking out of the treatment centres, recovered from their illness. As logisticians we might not be interacting with the patients directly but we know we play an important part in their recovery.