Helping Doctors in the Congo

An international non-profit based out of the United States is working to help doctors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo help patients, but they're facing some obstacles.

"Education Congo", President and Billings resident, Ernie Ross, says, "Education Congo", helps teaching doctors get to hospitals where they can help interns helping patients. Right now they're working on getting a vehicle that can transport those doctors. The problem he says, is this is a good road.

Ross says the vehicle they had to transport doctors is out and if they can't take the doctors to hospitals the interns won't graduate and become doctors.

"The interns would never graduate, period, you know? Ernie Ross, "Education Congo", President says, "That's it, if their progress isn't monitored and graded in some way. They have to be judged competent, then is they don't have that assurance then they can't graduate."

Ross says, a medical school in the country's capital, Kinshasa, provides doctors that bring supplies to travel to hospitals to lead seminars and monitor the progress of students. Getting to hospitals is very difficult. Ross says you will travel just 10 miles in one hour. The roads and bridges aren't good, and cause the vehicles to get torn up rapidly, he says. So, the most immediate need is to replace one vehicle they had.

Ross says, most of the internships are at rural hospitals, in the hope these interns will become doctors and meet the doctor shortage in these rural areas.

Ross says you can designate any funds you would like to give specifically to the vehicle fund.

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Helping Doctors in the Congo

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By David Kaplan, Wake Up Montana

Posted: Dec 27, 2017 3:50 PM / BILLINGS, Mont.