**Drama in Kanyaruchinya: the distress of the displaced faced with insufficient medical care**
For almost a month, the Kanyaruchinya displaced persons site, in the Nyiragongo territory, has been the scene of heartbreaking human tragedies. Four displaced people died there in tragic circumstances, highlighting the glaring gaps in the medical care of this vulnerable population. The president of the site, Theo Musekera, sounds the alarm and denounces the ordeal experienced by sick displaced people, abandoned to their fate.
The situation is most worrying, with nurses overwhelmed by events and a failing health center. Theo Musekera points out the lack of medicine and the dismissal of sick displaced people by healthcare staff, who then find themselves left to their own devices in their precarious shelters. The heartbreaking story of a displaced person dismissed from the health center for lack of an available doctor, transferred to Virunga hospital where he succumbed despite the efforts made, reveals the extent of the disaster.
Faced with the urgency of the situation, the call for help is clear: the Congolese Government and humanitarian organizations must intervene quickly to prevent further tragedies. The displaced must not die from diseases that could be properly treated. Theo Musekera’s cry from the heart resonates as a call for solidarity and action to save lives in danger.
The denials of the head nurse of the health center regarding a possible stock shortage of medicines cannot obscure the reality on the ground. Confidence in the ability of local authorities to provide adequate medical care is shaken. The presence of MSF/Belgium and the central office of the Nyiragongo health zone is not enough to compensate for the deficiencies observed. It is imperative that we act urgently to stop this spiral of preventable deaths.
In this place of desolation and suffering, it is imperative to restore the dignity of the displaced by ensuring them access to quality care. The international community cannot remain indifferent to this human drama playing out in Kanyaruchinya. It is time to act and take concrete measures to save lives, so that such a tragedy never happens again in this displaced person site.