Medical situation stabilises in eastern DRC after January peak: Red Cross

Occupancy rates at hospitals supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are still high but the numbers have declined from the peak seen at the end of January when there was military fighting in Goma.

There was fierce fighting during the last few weeks of January when M23 rebels captured Goma. Ndosho Hospital in Goma, with a capacity of 146 beds, helped 2,337 gun-wounded patients during that period.

Eleonore Asomani, the ICRC francophone Africa spokesperson, said on Thursday that as of February 23, Ndosho Hospital was still at 154% of capacity.

“Of course the influx of patients has gone down,” she said.

She said Bukavu, where the M23 rebels moved after capturing Goma, has also seen many patients at Bukavu General Referral Hospital. 

“We had more than 200 patients, which is a lot considering that the hospital has 110 beds.”

Asomani said the situation was different in Bukavu.

“When we saw the arrival of M23 in Goma, there was heavy combat. In Bukavu, there was not much fighting. The death toll was not that high.”

She said at the end of January in Goma, after heavy fighting in urban areas and influx of patients that were received by ICRC supported hospitals, the ICRC was affected when there was  looting of the ICRC warehouse.

Asomani said this led to extreme shortage of medical supplies. This meant doctors were, for example, cutting a bandage meant for one patient to assist three patients.

The fighting had also led to electricity and water cuts. This saw medical facilities encountering difficulties such as patients who were on respirators dying and doctors having to suspend surgeries. The cold chain of medicines was also interrupted and it was difficult to sterilise equipment as a result of the power cuts.

She said fuel allowed generators and hospitals to continue some of the operations while broken infrastructure was fixed and electricity restored. 

The ICRC was no longer seeing a high number of patients being admitted compared to the last week of January. However, patients who were admitted with injuries caused by explosives and gunshots three weeks ago were still being treated at the facilities, she said.

This was because the surgeries performed on these patients were different from ordinary surgeries such as broken bones, she said. “These surgeries were not performed once but on two or more occasions. Sometimes wounds are infected, which necessitates further surgery.

“Even though we see fewer patients in Goma, we are still working on cases that were with us three weeks ago,” Asomani said.

She said people had also been traumatised by the conflict.

“Today I was talking to Enoch, aged about four, who was in his house outside Goma when a bomb fell and his mother was killed. He had shrapnel in his leg. His aunt got to his home at 4am, three hours after the incident. It took them five days to reach hospital.”

Though Enoch could talk, he was traumatised by the incident, she said. A team of psychologists and other practitioners from ICRC were on hand to assist those affected.

As the conflict seemed to subside, the ICRC was concerned to see a lot of explosive remnants of war in the area — ammunition that did not explode as intended or were left behind after armed conflict. These can include unexploded bombs, shells and grenades.

There was a risk that children might want to pick up such remnants, she added, and this might lead to injury or death.

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