Luputa General Hospital

Hospital Administration

The next morning we were off to see the source of the water for the project. We had a little time before we could meet the contractor, ADIR and Dominique Sowa, so we decided to go to the Luputa General Hospital and check up on one of the nurses that came to our NRT Training, Marie Josee. The church had paid for Marie to fly to Kinshasa to attend the NRT training and we had talked to her several times since on the phone.

One Sunday she called and was so excited we couldn’t understand what she was saying. She said she had just saved a baby that before the training she would not have known how to help. She was crying and yelling “Praise the Lord, Praise the church for inviting Marie Josee to the training so that she could come back and teach everyone how to save babies, We are saving babies in Luputa!” She had us in tears and we were so grateful for the NRT program and being able to host the program so Marie could come and learn how to save babies. Supply Closet in Surgery

Autoclave

The hospital is very simple, not really a true hospital but all that they have in Luputa. The operating room had an obscure light strung to a battery over the surgery table. The autoclave was something out of the 1920s and was heated by a Bunsen burner. They had a supply closet that was 8 feet tall and 2 feet wide and their supplies only filled two shelves. Keep in mind there is no electricity and no running water. They are doing surgery here in spite of the conditions as it is the only place they have.

Scrub room

The maternity ward had 6 women who had given birth by cesarean section and there was a set of twins that looked just the same size as Christie and Carrie when we brought them home from the hospital at 4 pounds each. The best part of the tour was seeing the NRT Algorithm hanging on the wall in the birthing room. There is so much needed at this hospital and whether we do anything or not they will continue to do emergency surgery and birth babies , just as they are. We hope we can do an area initiative for the hospital to strengthen them. They have a great, dedicated staff and they are doing the best they can with what they have.

Surgery operative
OR Table note surgery light

Half way through the tour our contractor Dominique showed up but declined to finish the tour with us saying it would make him cry, so he would meet us when we were finished.


We finished the tour but wondered how this hospital was providing the medical support for this community. Marie told us that the ones that are the hardest to help are those who get in trouble during delivery at home and they climb on a bike and come to the hospital for help. Can't imagine a bike ride while in distressed labor. That made us all cry.