Tens of patients where seen rushing out of the General Referral Hospital of Kinshasa, formerly known as Mama Yemo, few hours after President Tshisekedi gave instructions to have them release. The patients have held at the hospital, some of them for months, because of failure to settle their medical bill. Addressing the media at the General Hospital, health minister Eteni Longondo, said that the decision was taken as a measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus . Although the hospital does not treat coronavirus patients, the high volume of people accessing the facility, places it at a greater risk for infections. The minister also announced that the government will cover the medical costs of those discharged.
On Thursday 7 May 2020, President Felix Tshisekedi visited other hospitals in the capital Kinshasa, making a stopover at Hospital Cinquantenaire, where coronavirus patients are treated.
In his presence many complaints were raised , including by patients who spoke against poor treatment and negligence by health workers. Some patients told the President that they are yet to receive their tests results after being admitted almost a month ago. Based on the procedures, patients who test positive under go treatment for about twelve days, from there two more tests are conducted to determine whether they have recovered and ready to be discharged.
Health workers, from their side complained about not having received their salaries in months.
In his response, the President instructed the minister of health to rapidly address all concerns raised and ordered the discharge of patients who were yet to receive their test results; some of whom then left the quarantine centre without getting such results.
As of 10 May 2020, the Democratic Republic of Congo coronavirus positive cases stood at 1024 , with 41 deaths and 141 recoveries. The country's testing laboratory (Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale) has the capacity to conduct 200 test per day .
In a response to a parliamentary question Prime Minister Sylvester Ilunga stated that the country has already spent around USD 3million combatting the virus
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