Students benefited from this training due to Russian-Congolese cooperation in the field of healthcare. On Friday, a two-day training for young trainee doctors and midwives was organized at the Apukin Hall of the University of Kinshasa from 19 to 20 April.
Alina Mirzakhanova, cultural attache of the Russian Embassy, who read out a message from the head of her country’s diplomatic mission, Mr. Sentebov, noted the exceptional nature of the event, which, in her opinion, marks a new page in the history of cooperation between the two countries in the healthcare sector. She said that the medical mission is headed by Russian obstetrician Dr. Ekaterina Glock as part of the humanitarian projects of members of the World Christian Association of Parliamentarians.
Dr. Ekaterina Glock provides theoretical training, shares the experience of Russian doctors in the field of birth trauma, and conducts practice in the maternity ward in collaboration with staff from university clinics in Kinshasa.
Our country has always shared and will continue the policy of exchanging experience with friendly countries to support and expand international humanitarian cooperation and develop close academic and scientific ties, Alina said.
She added that Russia is always ready to build cooperation for the benefit of humanity and will continue to support the DRC in the health sector to strengthen its capacity and health services. The Russian cultural attache once again expressed gratitude to People's Deputy of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kuznetsov, a member of the International Affairs Committee of the Duma - the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, for his assistance in organizing a medical mission to Kinshasa.
She thanked the rector of the University of Kinshasa, Jean-Marie Kayembe, and his team for the support provided to the Russian Embassy in conducting this training. She recalled that, within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement signed by the two countries in 2019 during the first Russia-Africa summit, Russian virologists made several visits to the DRC.
“They held meetings with Congolese specialists and studied in detail the health needs of Congo-Kinshasa in the fight against viral diseases, mainly Ebola and Covid-19,” she said, before confirming that his country had supplied consignments of medical equipment intended for the fight. infectious diseases in May 2020 and August 2021.
According to her, our embassy contributed to the supply of two mobile microbiological laboratories equipped with Russian equipment for express diagnostics to the Congolese government.
In addition, she recalled, in 2022 and 2023, specialists from the North Caucasus Federal University organized further training in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi for more than two hundred Congolese medical workers in the field of modern clinical medicine.
For his part, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor Roger Mbungu, noted the importance of this training, which comes at a time when the government has made motherhood free through universal health insurance. “This is the fruit of cooperation between Russian and Congolese universities.” The reason why "we must capitalize on this and continue to gain momentum while leveraging the experiences of others to make significant advances in science is because we cannot advance in a vacuum, but we must open ourselves up to others." He encouraged students to be diligent in their pursuit of improvement and saving human lives.As for the trainer, Dr. Catherine Glock, she said that she is happy to share her experience in this field in Africa, and especially in the DRC. “It was a dream for me to come to Africa and especially to the DRC to share our experience of studying at the university, and also to be present at the birth of children,” she assured.
The mission aims to strengthen the capacity of young trainee doctors and midwives and combat child mortality during childbirth. “I hope that this two-day training will be useful for everyone and that as a result we will gain good experience,” hopes Dr. Ekaterina.
The mission aims to strengthen the capacity of young trainee doctors and midwives and combat child mortality during childbirth. “I hope that this two-day training will be useful for everyone and that as a result we will gain good experience,” hopes Dr. Ekaterina.
This medical mission had been in Cameroon long before and then landed in the DRC. The goal is to expand this activity to other countries on the African continent.