Kinshasa, February 17th, 2026 (CPA). – A march by doctors to claim better pay has been organised on Tuesday in Gombe, a municipality in northern Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), by the Free Union of Doctors (Sylimed), in collaboration with other medical organisations, CPA has noticed.
‘We have issued a solemn appeal to all conscientious doctors to take part in this demonstration. Although initiated by the Free Union of Doctors, this march concerns the entire profession. There are more than 150 of us here today, but there will be thousands more if our demands remain unanswered,’ has declared Dr Wetchi Nkoy, general secretary of the Doctors’ Collective.
He has maintained that among the main demands are the payment of supplementary wages, the settlement of wage arrears, as some doctors have not been paid for four months, and promotion and integration into the regular wage system. This demonstration, he has added, aims to draw the authorities’ attention to several demands related to working conditions. For his part, Dr Andre Kasongo, general secretary of Sylimed, has assured that arrangements had been made to ensure continuity of care during the movement.« A minimum service is being provided by some doctors to care for patients. However, we will continue our union actions in order to obtain concrete responses from the government. We also intend to raise awareness among patients so that our voice is heard, » he has explained. The protesters have indicated they had submitted a memorandum outlining the main concerns of the ‘white coats’, reminding the government that it had committed, since last July, to align a thousand doctors per quarter, a commitment which, according to them, has not been respected. CPA/