Former US President Bill Clinton yesterday said he was impressed by the dignity of the patients at the newly constructed Butaro Cancer Centre. He made the remarks while officially opening the Centre – the first of its kind in the Great Lakes region – located at Butaro Hospital in Burera District, Northern Province.Clinton arrived in Rwanda yesterday, and right away flew by helicopter to Butaro. He’s on a three-day visit.His initiative, Clinton Foundation, currently funds several health programmes in the country and is one of the main financiers of Rwanda’s first cancer centre – which he inaugurated yesterday."Rwandans have had a bitter past, enduring threatening diseases such as Malaria, TB and HIV/Aids, but I am very impressed that they are determined not to stay in the same condition but lead better lives,” he said. The former American leader pointed out that while intelligence is evenly distributed throughout the world, opportunity, organisation and investments were not."If you can bring that to places such as this, by equipping institutions like this one (Butaro Hospital) with sophisticated facilities, good things can happen,” he saidClinton acknowledged the work by community health volunteers spread across the country and pledged support to help further activities that foster equal dignity and opportunity."I have developed an enormous interest in this and the reason we set up this global initiative is because we mind a lot about the future of the Rwandan people.”He said there is absolutely no problem on the face of the earth which cannot be dealt with through creative cooperation. Butaro Hospital is a 150 bed facility which opened on January 24, 2011.Inaugurating the hospital last year, President Paul Kagame said, "Butaro is more than a hospital. It is a unique story of exceptional people with desire to see positive change in the world and in communities like the one hosting us today."… it is also a story about strong and mutually benefiting partnerships and the fact that when we come together and join forces, commendable results can be achieved.”Speaking yesterday, co-founder, Partners In Health (PIH), and chair of Harvard’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Paul Farmer, said Butaro Cancer Centre of Excellence was a testimony to multi-generational partnership. "Just a few years ago we had no system or financing mechanism to diagnose and treat AIDS in Africa. People said it was too expensive or too complicated. But today nearly seven million people in developing countries are receiving treatment for HIV. We can do the same with cancer.” Butaro Hospital is worth US$5.8 million, with the government contributing US$1.4 million. The other funds came from several partners. Jeff Gordon, a NASCAR champion, said that the realisation of the cancer centre wouldn’t have been possible without teamwork. "As we pursue perfection in this journey of saving lives, I am sure we will achieve excellence,” said Gordon. He is the founder of Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation (JGCF) which contributed US$1.5 million towards the construction of Butaro Hospital.The Minister of Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, announced plans to set up two more cancer centres in Kigali. "The new cancer centre will also serve as an educational pivot for medical practitioners. Rwanda is proud to start this journey but we celebrate this because of the primary achievements in the medical sector,” said Binagwaho. The Director of Medical Services, PIH Partners Rwanda, Dr Peter Drobac, recalled that a few years back cancer was a silent killer disease but that with the current efforts a lot can be done. "Cancer is not a disease for the rich or the poor, it can affect everybody…today, since we started our work in Rwanda, we have 350 cancer patients who are on treatment in different hospitals around the country,” said Dr Drobac. He recognised Rwanda’s efforts against cancer, saying the country had made commendable progress."Today 93 per cent of Rwandan girls in their teenage years have received HPV vaccine, unlike in the United States where only 26 per cent of girls have got that same vaccine; this is an indication of how Rwanda is going an extra mile to offer healthcare for its citizens,” Drobac added.Franscine Tuyishime, 15, was among cancer survivors who spoke at the event. She said she was diagnosed with the disease in 2004. Tuyishime battled for survival until recently when her father took her to Butaro Hospital where she acquired treatment.She responded to medication fast and is now on her way to recovery.Former Auditor General Evelyn Kamagaju is another cancer survivor. She told the gathering that she was, in December last year, diagnosed with Breast Cancer, which saw one of her breasts amputated. She has now become a cancer activist, sensitising the public about the disease."I was able to survive because I was lucky my cancer was detected at an early stage but then I realised there might be many people out there who may know less or nothing at all about cancer. "I decided to start an awareness campaign through an association that we established – the Concur Breast Cancer Association,” said Kamagaju. She heads the association.Kamagaju said the association has 50 breast cancer survivors, including one man.Gaspard Rubanda, another cancer survivor, said he had lost hope over what he had initially considered a "strange disease”.He said he even sought the assistance of traditional healers in vain until he was advised to go to Rwinkwavu hospital, Ngoma District, where he was diagnosed with abdominal cancer – and later received medication.