Hospital Hostages

In maternity clinics in Kinshasa, hundreds of mothers and their newborn children are locked up. Weeks, months, sometimes even years. The reason: they cannot pay the bill. In most cases it concerns mothers who experience complications during their birth. A caesarean section increases the bill from 30 to 300 euros, about three times the average monthly wage in Congo. Almost every hospital in Kinshasa, institutional or confessional, commits itself to this practice. But in a country with a weak and corruption-affected government, these hospitals are completely dependent on themselves for their financing.