With the aim of accelerating the country’s health progress, Health Minister, Dr. Richard Sezibera yesterday called upon nurses to lead in the provision of best services in the country.

The Minister made these remarks at an annual meeting that was held to discuss the common plan to improve the services delivered in the health sector.

Citing cleanliness, teamwork, time consciousness and evaluation as core values of a good health system, Sezibera emphasized that such are still lacking in this profession, advising that it is high time they adjusted.

"This profession is getting better with a nursing council on board. However, we must remember that more is required as regards to boosting the health sector in general,” he said.

"It is vital to work as a team in this medical profession because if a laboratory expert does not perform his/her duties well, then the entire system will be affected. The same applies to your work so perform to the best of your ability.”

The health official also urged the medical practitioners to have a private sector mindset explaining that this commitment is the one way through which each one of them will put in more effort in what they do.

"If we all work with a result-oriented attitude then together we will be able to turn Rwanda into a centre of medical excellence,” Sezibera added.

Emphasizing the need for quality services, the official also advised the group of nurses to be honest and always endeavor to tell the truth when things go wrong adding that honesty is part of the profession.

He gave examples of patients who may suffer severe effects due to medical experts who may not want to be honest and admit mistakes made during the course of administering patient care.

The Head of the Nurses’ council, Andrew Gitembagara, also called for more capacity building for the nurses adding that more qualified personnel are required to enable quality services reach the population.

Current statistics in the ministry show that there are 7,000 to 8,000 nurses countrywide.

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