Kinshasa, July 9th, 2026 (CPA). – The strike movement ‘doctors without hospitals’, launched by the National Doctors’ Union (SYNAMED), has brought certain public hospitals to a standstill, notably the Renaissance University Hospital Centre (CHUR) in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), CPA has noticed on Thursday. “We are pleased with the compliance with the directive from the union’s national executive. People are not coming because they know the doctors are on strike, but rather because emergencies can arise at night. In any case, our teams are turning people away to tell them that the doctors are not seeing patients here; everything has come to a standstill,” has declared a doctor at the CHUR, who has asked to remain anonymous. The running of the capital’s public healthcare facilities, such as the Kintambo General Referral Hospital, the Renaissance University Hospital (CHUR, formerly Maman Yemo Hospital) and many others, has been severely disrupted.
The same situation was observed across all these healthcare facilities: various corridors remained empty, healthcare staff were absent and some consultation rooms were closed. Patients are complaining about the absence of reception staff, and the situation remains critical in almost all departments. Furthermore, ultrasound and X-ray services and other facilities are also closed.
The situation is most dire in the emergency departments, where some patients are being left to fend for themselves, whilst others are leaving the premises, due to a lack of appropriate care, to seek treatment at private healthcare facilities.
Synamed, for its part, has justified this strike action by citing the government’s failure to provide concrete responses to its demands, namely the adjustment and regularisation of the hazard allowance, the payment of salaries, and compliance with the financial commitments made by the public authorities.
Synamed notices the strike is having an effect
A hospital ward with empty beds
Meanwhile, at the Barumbu Mother and Child Hospital, the medical director is conducting antenatal consultations single-handedly. Sitting at reception, not in her uniform, Dr Nadege Lingonda, Synamed’s financial secretary at this hospital, has come to verify the effectiveness of the strike. “The provincial office has instructed us to visit our institutions to verify that the strike was being observed. During our rounds, we have found that the call to strike has been respected, and there are no doctors here. I am the only doctor present,” she has said.
In the public hospitals, the representatives of the National Doctors’ Union are unanimous: the affiliated doctors, as well as the entire medical profession, must keep up the pressure until a credible solution is reached by the government. Having begun on June 24th before escalating into a full-scale strike, this call to action, launched as part of the ‘Hospitals without Doctors’ campaign, is being observed in several public hospitals across the country.