The Ministry of Health has embarked on a rigorous campaign to encourage medical personal to treat patients with compassion. The Minister has even gone at length to use the social networking site, Twitter, to emphasise that the achievements registered in the health sector can further be consolidated if the medical practitioners enhance customer care.

Rwanda’s health sector has registered remarkable progress, over the past few years. More than 90 percent of the population has medical insurance, HIV/AIDS patients are receiving treatment and nutritional support and various vaccines are provided free of charge, among many other achievements.

However, customer care in some of the hospitals and health centres is far from satisfactory.

The government has heavily invested in hospitals and health centres which now have modern equipment, stocked pharmacies, hi-tech ambulances, as well as more skilled doctors and nurses.

In order to realise the benefits of this investment, the end result, which is the quick and full recovery of patients, should be the priority. And. in the recovery process, customer care is paramount.

Through concerted efforts, sensitisation about patients’ rights, re-fresher courses on ethics and professional conduct of medical personnel, and publicly condemning cases of poor service delivery, there is no doubt that the health sector will manage to overcome such challenges.

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