It has been 6 months since the people of Njiapanda Bella in Ituri gained access to the hospital facility built and equipped thanks to our support.
This centre with 40 beds was a dream come true for all the community. Finally there comes a surgical block with the permanent presence of a doctor. It’s the only facility of this size in the 110 km stretch between Mambasa and Mangina.
136 births already!
Over the first 6 months of operation, the hospital has seen 136 births, including 43 by Caesarian section.
Over the month of February alone, the CPN (Prenatal Consultation) registered 82 women.
All the mothers seen are happy and reassured by the follow-up from which they could benefit.
“Unfortunately the region was deprived of basic facilities like this hospital facility,” says Masika Vahwere Sifa. “In July 2014, I wanted to give birth at the health centre in my village, and unfortunately both pregnancy and labour were complicated... I had to go to the general hospital in Mangina, the only hospital at the time, where according to the doctor, the baby had already died en route. Right now, I’m pregnant and I have started prenatal consultation at the centre in Njiapanda-Bella. I’m very happy as the doctor is permanent and this time, if there are complications, I won’t have to make the long journey during labour.”
More than 300 hospitalisations
220 adults and 87 children have been admitted, and 56 surgical operations have been carried out. The first to benefit from intervention from the surgical block is the young boy Katembo. He had been suffering from an abscess on the arm for two years, and his father didn’t know where to take him to get better. The pain was so bad that he was absent from school. Today he is well and is going to school as normal.
Good health is finally affordable
Having access to treatment that is nearby and at a reasonable price is now a reality for this vulnerable population. The patients and their families pay for their treatment and thereby contribute to the proper running of the centre. The money collected makes it possible to purchase consumables (medication, bandages and small equipment). Just like in the Orange Village of Kabweke, families are eager to pay for their health expenses.
The Head of the Organisation, the Mwami Musoki Kinyondo, is ever thankful for this facility to have been constructed. He witnessed at least 5 deaths per month when the Njiapanda-Bella Hospital did not exist and the only solution was to go by motorbike to Mangina Hospital, which was totally unsuitable in case of emergency and costly as well.
Infrastructure at the heart of the Orange Village
The hospital is part of the health infrastructure in the Orange Village that we carried out. In 2016, with the NGO , we worked with its local partner, the LIDE, in creating the second Orange Village in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Njiapanda Bella in the province of Ituri. This is a welcome centre for families displaced by the land disputes in the uplands of North Kivu. The population keeps on growing.
The hospital facility in Njiapanda Bella provides services pertaining to paediatrics, women’s internal medicine, men’s health, surgery and maternity. It operates with 14 people - a doctor, six nurses, a pharmacist, a lab technician, two ward sisters, an accountant, a guard and a gardener.
The buildings built thanks to our support include the operation block, which is made up of an operating room, an anaesthesia room, a locker room or place to clean teeth, a waiting room, a recovery ward, a preparation room, a doctor consultation room, an ultrasound room, a shower and doctor’s toilets.
A second building is made up of a reception, a pharmacy, a laboratory, an accounting office, a treatment room and a guard room.
A third building is used for the hospitalisation of men, women and children.
There are also four additional rooms with 4 beds that are for mothers coming from further away while they wait to go into labour.
