Ambulances Under Fire, HEAL Africa Hospital, Goma
*Sensitive image warning*
Hipolite points to the bullet holes in the side of one of the two ambulances caught up in the conflict, “I was in the passenger seat, the driver was shot”. It was during a mission to collect more medical staff that the ambulance sustained gun fire. The front left flank of one crushed and splintered, the other with shattered glass surrounding the red cross. His neat handwriting fills a small black book of notes, carefully recorded information of the events of the previous weeks. Usually there are about 160 patients. In early February there are 517. On 31st January, after days of fighting, the number had reached 753, 251 women, 502 men, mostly chest trauma and bone fractures. The hospital adapted, expanding urgent care into the former dispensary, with sheets of blue paper covering the external windows - a form of privacy, borrowing mattresses and vehicles, making do.
Staffed by a largely Congolese team, they possess a full range of medical experts and specialists, but all have been trained in emergency medical response. At the height of the recent conflict in Goma – between the rebel M23 group and the Congolese army - many of the team worked for 4-5 days in a row treating the constant flow of patients, because other medical staff couldn’t get to work to relieve them. People were instructed to stay in their houses for safety. Now that the fighting in Goma has mostly subsided, the immediate challenge is access to vital services, petrol for the generator, replacement vehicles and emergency supplies.
(All images taken with patients’ permission)
Katie Garner for @healafrica
