NYARUGENGE - Dr. Richard Sezibera, the new Health Minister, has said that the fight against infectious diseases like Tuberculosis, Malaria, HIV/Aids and others, is among his top priorities, as he promised to improve medical services.

The former Great Lakes Region, envoy, revealed this at the ministry’s handover ceremony held on Saturday,  at which the outgoing Dr. Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo was handing over the Ministry’s strategic plan to Dr. Sezibera.

"Another thing is that we are going to sensitise the population on hygiene because most diseases are caused by poor hygiene,” he said in an interview.

The problems with health care access in Africa are often attributed to a lack of resources, but a more dangerous and perhaps more difficult problem is the shortage of doctors.

Dr. Sezibera said that he will soon hold a meeting to discuss ways of increasing the number of doctors in the country since their ratio per patient is still low.

Some specialty doctors like chemotherapists,  brain and heart surgeons are still not available though patients may need such kind of treatment each day.

During the handover ceremony, Dr. Ntawukuriryayo said that Health has played one of the greatest roles in the development of the country though certain goals were yet to be achieved.

Dr. Ntawukuriryayo, currently one of the Deputy Speakers of Parliament, noted that maternal mortality rate, Infant mortality rate, fertility rate and other health services were still priorities the Ministry’s implementation strategy.

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