Goma, 03 Augiust 2013 - As part of its Quick Impact Projects programme, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) on 30 July donated a batch of medical equipment items to the "Charite maternelle" hospital in Goma for the neonatal ward.

Worth US$ 25,000, the batch of medical equipment items -, consisting of a newborn incubator, neonatal reanimation and warming tables, lamps for phototherapy, a resuscitation pack, an autoclave, a scialytic light mobile stand, a newborn weighing scale, an aspirator, and hospital beds for mothers of newborns, - was donated as part of a quick impact project initiated by the Medical Section of MONUSCO.

The formal delivery of the donated equipment was carried out in the presence of the provincial minister of Health, the administrator of the hospital, and the MONUSCO Head of Office in North Kivu, Mr. Ray Virgilio Torres.

On this occasion, the provincial minister of Health, Valerian Mbalutirandi, expressed his gratitude to MONUSCO for this donation. "I thank MONUSCO for its work as a stabilization mission and for coming to our aid with this medical equipment," he said, promising also that the equipment received will be taken good care of. M. Ray Virgilio Torres, for his part, pointed out that, even if this activity does not, strictly speaking, fall within the mandate of MONUSCO, it shows however that the mission always stands ready to help the populations in meeting their social needs.

The choice of this hospital to be the recipient of the donation was not accidental. For this is indeed is a reference hospital that is largely staffed by specialists such as pediatric health care professionals but lacked adequate equipment to treat ill newborns. Moreover, this hospital takes care of premature newborns from other hospitals across the town. Finally, this hospital is located in the poor Birere part of the town, where people from the most deprived backgrounds have been having difficulties in accessing health care.

In realizing this project, the Medical Section of MONUSCO thus helps residents of this part of Goma to have access to better healthcare services at lower costs.

Clara Padovan/MONUSCO