Mahagi, 12 September 2013 - In Mahagi, Ituri district, Oriental Province, a health clinic built and equipped by the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) to help people in this locality and surround area who are sick, was inaugurated and turned over to local authorities on Wednesday 11 September 2013.

The clinic project was undertaken as part of MONUSCO's quick impact projects that are designed to help improve the living conditions of the population. The project was carried out by the Mahagi-based Bangladeshi contingent of the UN mission, and cost an estimated 24,000 US dollars. The Bangladeshi peacekeepers have on previous occasions organized medical campaigns providing free health care to people suffering from various diseases.

The health clinic was inaugurated and handed over to the Ituri authorities by the MONUSCO Force Commander, General Alberto Carlos dos Santos Cruz, who was on a working visit to the district. General dos Santos Cruz was accompanied by the MONUSCO Ituri Brigade Commander and the Head of MONUSCO's Office in Ituri.

The new clinic, which includes all the service units of a modern clinic, will be run Congolese medical personnel, with technical assistance provided by doctors from the Bangladeshi contingent for diagnoses and treatment of those patients requiring their intervention. In order to facilitate access to health services for those in need, each patient will pay as little as 800 Congolese francs, or less than one US dollar, in consultation fees. Also the prices of medicines delivered from the clinic's pharmaceutical depot will be much lower than those prevailing on the local market.

Amadou Maïga/ MONUSCO