In what has been described as a milestone, officials yesterday broke ground to kick-start the construction works for Nyarugenge District Hospital.

The facility will cost up to Rwf6 billion.

Once completed, the hospital is expected to cater for the more than 300,000 residents of the district with medical services, as well as being a model of excellence and innovation in terms of organisation, patient follow up, high standards of care, and healthy working conditions in the city.

To date, Nyarugenge does not have a district hospital since Muhima Hospital was turned into a centre for excellence for maternal and child health.

The hospital will be built in two phases; the first one with capacity of 120 beds (worth about Rwf6bn) will be built in a period of sixteen months and is expected to be completed in June 2019.

Officials, however, said there is a plan to embark on a second phase which will see the hospital capacity elevated to 300 beds.

The first phase is funded by the Kingdom of Belgium.

The hospital, which will be located in Nyamirambo Sector, will provide varied services, including outpatient medical services, dental and minor surgery care, emergency, inpatient services, surgical, pediatrics, obstetrics, neonatal and intensive care services. It will operate 24 hours.

Presiding over the ground breaking ceremony, Dr Diane Gashumba, the minister for health, said that the facility is important for Nyarugenge and the City of Kigali since it will come as a solution for citizens who need different medical services.

She said it will complement Muhima Hospital which did not have all the services since it specializes in maternal and child health.

She urged medics to give their contribution by providing good care to the patients who will come to the facility, as well as those who attend different facilities in the country.

"Let us put more emphasis on the way we receive those who approach us. It would be unpleasant if medics in such a good facility don’t give good care to the patients who come to them,” she said.

She also urged the citizens to maintain healthy lifestyle to reduce their risks of getting sick. Among other things, she asked them to do physical exercises, maintain hygiene, drink a lot of water, and not take much sugar.

Pascal Nyamulinda, the city mayor, said that the event marks an important milestone, as Nyarugenge has been the only district in the city that did not have a fully functioning district hospital.

The Belgian ambassador to Rwanda, Benoit Ryelandt, referred to the the planned hospital to as a "high-tech” facility. For him, it will serve as a model for healthcare provision and will improve healthcare in the City of Kigali. 

"We are very happy to be part of this project because it is so important to the socio-economic development of the district, especially the development of primary health access to the population,” he said.

Aphrodise Habinshuti, a resident of Rugarama cell in Nyamirambo Sector, Nyarugenge District, welcomed the development.

Vianney Havugimana, a father of one child from Kivugiza cell in Nyamirambo, echoed similar sentiments,

"It will help us a lot since we shall be getting treatment from near,” he said.

For Josianne Ngabire, a mother of one, also from Kivugiza cell, the facility will be also of help to other people from elsewhere in the country as well.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw