Editor,

This is with reference to the article, "Murekezi rallies for more investment into healthcare” (The New Times, May 19).

Kudos to the Ministry of Health for hosting the Fourth Conference of the East Africa Healthcare Federation (EAHF), in Kigali, which attracted delegates from 43 countries.

As Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi very rightly remarked, it is the private sector which should take a lead in enhancing service delivery across the health sector of the five-member East African Community (EAC) bloc.

"Healing Little Hearts”, a charity registered in the United Kingdom and essentially a private sector initiative, will very soon be flying in a team of eminent surgeons and nurses to perform open heart surgeries on little children in Rwanda.

Around the same time, the world class, super speciality "SevenHills Hospital” will arrange for Rwandan nurses to undergo an advanced training programme in Mumbai at their SevenHills Health City.

Such initiatives will surely go a long way in enhancing the country's healthcare sector.

Coupled with 90 per cent insurance coverage, as stated by Dr Rogers Ayiko, a global health specialist at the EAC Secretariat, Rwanda could well be number one in the EAC region as far as overall health care services is concerned.

Clarence Fernandes, Mumbai, India