Rwanda was yesterday selected to be East Africa’s centre of excellence in e-health and biomedical engineering as well as health vaccines and immunisation logistics.

The decision was taken by health experts and officials from the East African Community (EAC) currently meeting in Kampala, Uganda for the fifth annual EAC Health and Scientific Conference.

"We were given this task because Rwanda is relatively advanced in matters of ICT. Our responsibility will be to provide e-health solutions like storage of medical records using high technology,” Parfait Uwaliraye, the acting Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, told The New Times in Kampala.

The three-day meeting, that kicked off yesterday, is running under the theme; ‘Investing in Health through Strengthening Regional Health Systems and Institutions toward the Prevention and Control of Communicable and Non Communicable Diseases’.

According to the plan, Uganda will be the centre of excellence in treating cancer, Kenya will be charged with issues of urology, Tanzania will be charged with cardiac issues, while Burundi will handle nutritional issues.

Uwaliraye added that other responsibilities will include providing engineering knowledge for medical equipment like scanners and teaching how vaccines are efficiently procured and stored.

The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Jessica Eriyo, said the EAC will build capacities in those countries so that they efficiently work as referrals.

"Why should we have patients flown to India for specialised treatment yet all this can be done in our region?” posed Dr Chris Baryomunsi, Uganda’s State Minister for Health.

Baryomunsi added that with specific tasks allocated to different partner states, they will be encouraged to work harder and invest more resources in their respective assignments.

The health experts have also been working on the formation of a regional health policy that will cover health structuring, harmonisation of national policies, among others.

Sub themes of the meeting include health systems strengthening; integrated approaches for disease prevention, control and management; social determinants of health; and diseases and conditions of public health importance.

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