The Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sophie Wilmès, welcomed in the hospital
The Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sophie Wilmès visited Nyarugenge District Hospital on the sidelines of the Second African Union-European Union Ministerial Meeting convened in Kigali on 25-26 October 2021.
The hospital has been in operation since 1 December2020. It was built and equipped through the Belgian cooperation via Enabel, the Belgian development agency, as part of its “Ubuzima
Burambye” (long healthy life) health programme implemented in partnership with the City of Kigali and Rwanda’s Ministry of Health.
With its highest standard of oxygen therapy and its intensive care unit (ICU) capacity, Nyarugenge District Hospital is now serving as national Covid 19 treatment centre. It
responded to the big surge in new corona virus infections early in 2021.
The 120-bed hospital was built to provide access to quality health care to over 330,000 inhabitants that did not have access to a hospital in their district. Mothers had to go far for
delivery services and patients had to be transferred to other district hospitals. These were among the causes of higher morbidity and mortality.
Patients with non-communicable diseases used to go to distant public hospitals for monitoring and treatment or turned to private clinics at high costs. Other referral hospitals were therefore overwhelmed with additional patients and could not systematically provide comprehensive quality of care.
The newly built facility provides full services including curative and preventive consultations, laboratory and radiology services, surgery, a maternity and neonatal unit, a high care unit,
pediatrics, internal medicine and emergencies. Medical records are fully digitised so that doctors and nurses can access to patients records in confidentiality and at any needed time.
Laboratory results, x-ray imaging are automatically included in the medical records. Prescriptions are automated so that pharmacy services can provide prescribed treatment in
an efficient way. The hospital will also provide primary health care services and oversee six chealth centres in the catchment area.
The total budget for construction was around RWF 7 billion and medical and non-medical equipment procured so far was around RWF 2,6 billion.
Currently, the hospital has a capacity of 120 beds. It is planned that a second phase of construction of additional buildings will increase the capacity to 300 beds. It will also allow
for additional much needed services such as ophthalmology, physiotherapy, mental health, and other specialties as needed.
The hospital will greatly improve the access to quality health care in Nyarugenge District. It is expected to deliver high standards of care and to be part of the Kigali hospital network and
ensure efficient patient management and referral in Kigali.
The design of the hospital was initiated in 2016 and the construction started in January 2018. The first outpatients were received on 1 December 2020 and the first COVID patient the 8th January 2021. (End)