Bulape Hospital

The Bulape Presbyterian Medical Center is remotely situated in the small Congolese village of Bulape located south of the equator, 380 kilometers east of Kinshasa, and 180 kilometers northwest of Kananga. Work in Bulape was begun in 1915 when missionaries came to bring the Gospel to the people of the Bakuba Kingdom. Twelve years later, a full time medical program was instituted but it was the late 1930's before the first permanent hospital buildings were constructed. Expansion continued throughout the 1940's and 1950's and today the Bulape Presbyterian Medical Center includes an operating theater, maternity unit, pediatric ward, laboratory, outpatient dispensary, and a pharmacy.

A nursing school at Bulape was constructed in 1984-1988 and includes classrooms, a library, dining hall and dormitories. Graduates of the nursing program staff the hospital and the 20 primary health centers in the Bulape Zone. The nursing school currently has 70 students.

Today Bulape is a viable and dynamic institution, providing general medicine, surgical, pediatrics and maternity services in an isolated region of more than 100,000 people. While it has grown considerably, Bulape Hospital still struggles to provide services under difficult conditions. Many of the buildings are dilapidated and in need of major improvements. Repeated cycles of economic turmoil and political unrest have prevented the hospital from adequately maintaining and equipping it's facilities. The hospital has no access to any power grid and therefore is totally dependent upon solar power and diesel generators for electricity. Despite its challenging circumstances, Bulape has long maintained a very good reputation and it's staff remains dedicated to providing health services to the poorest people of the region. At church hospitals in the D. R. of the Congo, patients are never turned away for lack of ability to pay.

The hospital is under the direction of Dr. Bernard Ngoy Mukata, and operated as part of the health ministries of the Communaute Presbyterienne au Congo. Public health work is extensive with 13 health centers, a mobile vaccination unit and a nutrition center. Bulape is also a reference hospital for the Congolese Government's SANRU health zone system. Bulape recently installed a radio linked email system. Its address is bulape@rdc.maf.net.