Merlin reached the war-torn town of Kanyabayonga in eastern DR Congo yesterday to deliver life-saving drugs and medical equipment to people cut off from medical aid for the past few weeks.

On the day the Merlin team arrived, hundreds of displaced people returned to the town from the forest, where they had been living with no food, no shelter and no clean water for days. They had fled Kanyabayaonga and Rutshuru to escape the fighting.

The appalling living conditions in the forest had left many of the returning families desperately sick with malaria, diarrhoea and other illnesses.

Merlin’s Project Co-ordinator Victor Mokeba said: “We haven’t been able to deliver drugs in Kanyabayonga since the conflict erupted there at the end of October. One of the centres has been calling us for four days, telling us that they were in desperate need.”

Merlin’s medical teams had been trying to get to the town for days, but it was too unsafe for them to do so. A convoy drove from Butembo in the north on Sunday and inched its way down to Kanyabayonga, constantly checking the security situation on the way.

Nurses at the Referral Health Centre in the town started work with the drugs as soon as they arrived. Kakule Mangaha, who was on duty said: “There were several patients in a critical condition, and if these drugs hadn’t arrived today some of them could have died.”

One of the patients was a 15-month old baby, Kahindo Lutsongo, suffering from gastroenteritis. He was vomiting and had had a series of convulsions before slipping into a coma. Kakule administered Ringer’s Lactate, an infusion, within minutes of the drugs arriving and is now hopeful that Kahindo will recover.

The baby and his mother had been displaced after fleeing to the forest when they heard shots being fired. They had been living in the open air for a week, but finally came out to seek health care two days ago.

Delivering essential supplies to 45 health centres

Merlin’s medical teams are delivering drugs and medical equipment to 45 health centres in four health zones in Grand Nord in North Kivu Province, which covers the town of Kanyabayonga. The supplies include: antimalarials, antibiotics, painkillers, oral rehydration salts and anaesthetics.

There are also drugs to treat anaemia, intestinal worms and skin diseases, as well as bandages, antiseptics, needles, syringes and cotton wool.

Overall, we are supporting 200 health centres in DR Congo, which includes some of the towns most affected by the recent violence, such as Kiwanja and Rutshuru.

Merlin is also providing incentive payments to health centres to help with the salaries of health workers.

Ferdinand Djeranbouda, Merlin’s country health director for DR Congo said: “The government only spends 4 per cent of its overall budget on health and as such, cannot provide the health care that the people desperately need. When you visit health centres around the country you see that there are no drugs, no equipment and health workers haven’t been paid for months. In some centres they don’t even have beds for the patients to sleep on. This means that the health centres charge the patients to cover their needs, but patients often don’t have the means, so they stop at home. Merlin cannot stand by and watch this happening, as people’s lives are at stake.”