Hospital in eastern DRC attacked and destroyed
The overall toll of the clashes so far is estimated at around 12 deaths, including 10 civilians, and the hospital has been completely destroyed.
CAPE TOWN, June 10 (ANA) – A hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri Province has been destroyed amid ongoing clashes in the city.
The city of Boga’s General Referral Hospital (GRH), which is supported by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), was attacked on Monday. MSF is an international humanitarian medical organisation of French origin.
The toll of the clashes so far is estimated at around 12 deaths, including 10 civilians, while the hospital has been completely destroyed.
Several buildings were burnt down, including the intensive care unit, and the pharmacy and medical reserves were looted. Nine wounded have been admitted to the Gety general hospital, which is also supported by MSF.
“Everything went up in smoke in a matter of hours even as we were tirelessly claiming how vital this facility is for the region’s inhabitants”, said Frédéric Lai Manantsoa, MSF head of mission in DRC.
The organisation said this incredibly violent attack prevented the Boga hospital from running and caring for very vulnerable people, even though it was the last remaining health-care facility in the health zone for the more than 80,000 people who relied on it.
MSF said it had co-ordinated this hospital’s construction between 2017 and 2020 as a response to the dire lack of health-care services in the health zone.
Hundreds of children suffering from malnutrition will no longer have access to the therapeutic nutrition programme, and thousands of people have been left with no access to health care, it said.
In the past few months, MSF has consistently raised the alarm about rising insecurity, which only adds to a new wave of children suffering from malnutrition and a rise in cases of sexual violence that prevent women from working in the fields.
“Hospitals in conflict zones must remain protected and neutral spaces. Everyone involved in the conflicts in Ituri must respect patients and health-care workers’ humanitarian action,” Manantsoa said.
The eastern DRC has been troubled by mass violence perpetrated by armed groups accused of war crimes and serious human rights violations for many years.
These violations affect the civilian population and contribute to the worsening humanitarian situation and instability in the region. The violence has caused mass internal displacements as hundreds of thousands have fled their homes to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
