Hôpital Saint-Luc
Educational exchange with the orthopaedic and paediatric medical services
Orthopaedic workshop
Orthopaedics training programme North-South collaboration started in February 2023: Partners in the north: CLIC and Ka Dounia Dia, partners in the south: Hôpital Saint-Luc, Roi Baudouin (Kinshasa) and hospital in Kwilu Ngungu. During biannual educational surgical missions, practical training is combined with theory in the treatment of (alternating) orthopaedic defects in children and trauma cases. This educational programme aims to meet the need for training new and young colleagues to support the current orthopaedic team at Saint-Luc in raising the overall care for orthopaedic patients to a significantly higher level and maintaining it there, using appropriate working methods and under local conditions.
Since 2023, CLIC has been specifically responsible for restarting and running the orthopaedic workshop and further equipping the existing physiotherapy room in Saint-Luc. In addition, we also provide the necessary IT equipment and learning resources to maximise learning capacity and ensure the continuity of the collaboration. CLIC was able to realise this project in part thanks to a grant from ‘Mondiale Samenwerking Provincie Limburg’ (the Provincial Cooperation of Limburg) awarded in September 2023. Thanks to this grant, the orthopaedic workshop has now been nicely refurbished and is in full use under the supervision of a new orthopaedic technician who, after his training in Kinshasa, has taken over from the retired experienced technician. Two surgical missions have taken place to date since the start in November 2023, with around fifty young patients undergoing orthopaedic surgical treatment, receiving the necessary aftercare in the orthopaedic workshop and being regularly monitored.
With the outfitting now complete, we will continue to provide logistical and communication support for the Ka Dounia missions, which in principle take place twice a year. We also want to continue to supervise the operational and commercial side of the workshop for the time being, providing advice on efficient stock management and distribution of income, monitoring the quality of the products made and expanding the range (e.g. from orthoses to prostheses) in order to guarantee the sustainability of the workshop and safeguard the care cycle for patients. Our goal is to make this atelier the “reference” orthopaedic lab in Kongo Central, in collaboration with other hospitals and clinics.
Our vision: we launch projects that
- Are sustainable and long-lasting
- Can function under local circumstances
- Can prosper thanks to the efforts of local people
- Can succeed using local resources and services
Educational collaboration with Paediatrics Department
This collaboration will get off to a start during our next mission in November (2025). Paediatricians at Hôpital Saint-Luc sought support from Europe on topics such as the “prise-en-charge” process, resuscitation in newborns and children, alleviating the effects of Sickle Cell Disease (1,000 cases around Kisantu), bacterial meningitis in newborns and children, treatment of pneumonia, antibiotic therapy and much more. They also told us about the critical shortage of equipment and instruments needed to provide quality care and increase survival rates among admissions. Cathérine, our secretary and paediatrician at Sint-Trudo Hospital in Sint-Truiden, has enthusiastically taken on this project for CLIC Africa. Some of the most urgent materials and instruments are already in transit (monitors, oxygen meters) and we are also looking into local purchasing options. As a starting point for this educational exchange, we drew up a list of the topics they most urgently want to highlight in Kisantu; Cathérine will collect the necessary teaching materials to work on during the mission. After a “rigorous” course at the Tropical Institute in Antwerp, she is ready to give this project the best possible start in November.
In parallel, a promotional and communication campaign about this project has been set up with the staff of St-Trudo Hospital, accompanied by a fundraising initiative and a more general support through material donations (for example: heated baby beds). After the mission, we expect to have more clarity about the specific objectives of this project for the coming years, and an MOU or partnership agreement can be drawn up with Pediatrics Saint-Luc so that each partner clearly understands their tasks and responsibilities within this educational collaboration and support programme.
