Kinshasa, December 22nd, 2025 (CPA).- Maternity and newborn care will now be free at the Cinquantenaire University Hospital Centre (CHU), announced the Minister of Health on Monday in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, during the ceremony to re-launch the hospital’s activities. « Today in particular, I would like to announce that maternity care and newborn care will now be free here at this hospital. I would like to call on our population to take ownership of this hospital. I would like to call on mothers who live in the vicinity of this hospital, who are pregnant and need to give birth, to come here, because their care will be free of charge, » said Dr Roger Samuel Kamba, Minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare. ‘I would like to assure you that the first package of basic care that will be provided to our military, our police and the entire population will start here. Today we have 800 beds and we know that we can increase the capacity of this hospital, but we are in the process of launching another very important service, which is emergency care for the city and province of Kinshasa,’ he said.
This hospital, the Minister in charge of Health continued, will be the flagship of the health system in the DRC and will integrate the network of hospitals, the Ngaliema Clinic, the Renaissance University Hospital and the university clinics to provide quality care to the population. ‘I have instructed that we have the best magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment… I have instructed that we have the best equipment necessary to make this centre a true university hospital. I have instructed that the price of a scanner should not exceed $80,’ he said.
The Cinquantenaire University Hospital marks a decisive step towards a resilient healthcare system
In addition, Dr. Jeef Talaja, Director of the hospital’s provisional committee, reassured that the center is 80% operational after its plundering. ‘With this launch, the university hospital is taking a decisive step towards a more resilient and efficient healthcare system where quality care is no longer a privilege but a guarantee for all, in line with the spirit of universal health coverage (UHC),’ he said. This center will offer tertiary care in areas such as open heart surgery, advanced neurosurgery, visceral video surgery, maternal health and neonatology, he continued.
For his part, Dr Willy Kabongo, Medical Director of the Cinquantenaire University Hospital, said that the re-appropriation of this hospital is an opportunity to overcome the health challenges facing the DRC and enable the population to be properly cared for. The Rector of the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), Dr Jean-Marie Kayembe, said that his university is committed to providing sufficient skills to the country. ‘It is time for all university hospitals, namely Camp Tshatsi, Renaissance, this one and Unikin, to be able to train as many specialists as possible who will serve the entire nation in the field of health,’ he said. The Cinquantenaire University Hospital has 800 beds, modern technical facilities, qualified human resources, more than 25 incubators, emergency rooms, an orthopaedic unit, dentistry and a modern laboratory that will contribute significantly to the optimal management of complex pathologies and the reduction of medical evacuations from the country. ACP/