by Halcyon Martin
Continuing To Save Lives in the Middle of a Pandemic.
Our hospital, Central Hospital Rusayu, is situated near Goma in North Kivu in eastern D.R.Congo. It is a small hospital which serves a huge area where the majority of the population is extremely poor. Most cannot afford health care. The Central Hospital, however, offers a substantial ray of hope to those in need by giving free health care for those who are unable to afford it. This small but effective hospital deals with everything from health education to surgery for rape or gun shot wounds, antenatal care, child birth, dental care and treatment for malaria, typhoid and more, on a very tight budget. It is often stretched with a constant need for more equipment and medicines. With Ebola and Covid-19 in D.R.Congo things could become very, very difficult very quickly.
Funding for the running of the hospital and paying the staff is always very tight. We recently received reports from five of the staff who are being paid through a sponsorship scheme set up to help cover staffing costs. Repeatedly the staff report on the value of the hospital.
One of the doctors says of the local people,
“They glorify God for having sent people to support the population abandoned by their government.”
He goes on to say,
“So I’m very happy to serve these people who are in need of help and to find solutions to their problems; this realisation (that the people recognise the worth of the hospital) pleases me and shows the value our hospital has in this land. The population recognises the love actions they get from Comfort carrying their problems and participating in their health care. They share the good news of the importance of consulting the hospital to get a good health and this year we reduced mortality.”
This doctor would also like to relocate to be nearer to the hospital which in itself shows major commitment. He has already bought land and has started to build but it may take a while as he has to build as he can afford it.
A second thread running through the reports is the fear in the population of Covid-19. People are worried that if they present at the hospital for an illness they will be forced to isolate because of Covid-19. Job loss and the consequent lack of food leading to starvation is often a more immediate and real fear.
Two of the midwives, however, tell us how women are still coming to the hospital in significant numbers to give birth. The midwives continue to help mothers give birth in spite of the fear of Covid-19 and the fact that both of them have just, in the past two or three weeks, given birth themselves! Both have husbands who are unable to work because of the Covid-19 situation. One is a teacher and the schools have been closed so he now receives no income. The other cannot work as he has to stay home and look after the family again because of the school closures. Both of these midwives are thankful to God for the work that they can do to help the women in child birth and save lives.
One major problem has been the increase in rape. In a country where rape is unbearably common an increase is devastating. The Covid-19 situation has meant that many women are unable to go to their work and have had to look for alternative sources of income. Women who are just trying to cultivate their bit of land for food or making the extremely dangerous journey into forests to collect wood for selling are being raped. They are arriving at the hospital for help often with torn or completely lacking clothes. The consequences of rape are devastating, not only is there physical or emotional trauma but many are then rejected by their husbands or families leaving them completely destitute.
On a much brighter note we received encouraging reports from two of the staff at the hospital who were once part of our Children of Liberty (ex-child soldiers) Project. Both lost their families when they were younger and were captured by rebel armies. Having been rescued and helped by Comfort Congo they have rebuilt their lives. One trained to be a nurse and has been working in the hospital since 2017. In his report he tells us how pleased he is to have been made Director of Nursing earlier in the year, he is still studying in the evenings to further his qualifications. The other trained as a driver and car mechanic and now drives the Ambulance. It is a difficult and sometimes dangerous job. He says,
“We continue working to save the lives of people despite the lockdown, I keep going where I am called to be with the ambulance and I always feel happy doing this task as it is the way I can serve my community at this time.”
If you pray, please pray for the Central Hospital, the staff, the patients and the community, pray for funding so that the Central Hospital can continue to improve and serve the community well, saving more lives.
a little can change a life