GOMA, Congo AP β Hundreds of wounded people have poured into overcrowded hospitals in Goma, a major city in eastern Congo, as fighting rages on between government forces and the Rwanda-backed rebels who seized the city of around 2 million people. Since the start of the M23 rebels' offensive on Goma on Jan.
Bethesda Hospital alone said it receives more than new patients each day, overstretching its capacity of beds. Bethesda is one of several hospitals in Goma that The Associated Press visited that has inadequate personnel and supplies. The city hosts many of the close to 6. As more people arrived at the hospitals with gunshot or shrapnel wounds, many were forced to share beds while others lay on the floor, writhing in pain as they waited for medical attention.
The M23 rebels are backed by some 4, troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U. The fighting in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic conflict. M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the genocide of , Tutsis and others in Rwanda.
Medical workers at Kyeshero Hospital in Goma say they are treating an increasing number of patients with bullet wounds. In the past, hospitals in Goma could transport wounded patients by boat to South Kivu's main Bukavu city, kilometers miles to the south, but transport across Lake Kivu was suspended during the rebellion and roads have been mostly cut.
The fighting in and around Goma has also disrupted supply chains, leading to shortages in medical supplies that aid groups rely on. Some of it previously entered the city through its international airport, which is now under rebel control.
