Kicukiro Primary Court has, for a second time, adjourned the trial of two doctors of the now-defunct Baho International Hospital (BIH) who are charged with involuntary manslaughter. The medics in question: Dr.Alfred Mugemanshuro, an anesthesiologist, and Dr. Gaspard Ntahonkiriye, a gynecologist are being prosecuted in connection to the death of Chantal Ngwinondebe, a female patient who checked into the hospital mid-last year seeking the removal of an Intrauterine device from her body, but ended up losing her life during the operation. The substantive hearing of the case was scheduled to start in December last year, but was pushed to January this year after the defendants asked the court to allow them time to obtain the report that the Ministry of Health (MoH) came up with after carrying out a probe into the operations of BIH in the aftermath of the death of Ngwinondebe. It is this report that informed the total closure of the hospital. On Friday, January 21, the trial was meant to resume, but the court decided to postpone it again, as the lawyers of Civil party lawyer informed the presiding judge that they have not yet managed to obtain the MoH’s report. Here, Jean-Damascene Kayitana, one of the Civil party lawyer , noted that the officials at the MoH declined to share the report, as they demanded a written request from the court, requesting for the report. The prosecution also argued that they need that report as well as the very experts who compiled it in question to come to the court to explain more about it. Here, they called for the postponement of the trial so that these issues should be settled first. However, the defense lawyers argued that the trial should go on using an autopsy report carried out on the body of the deceased. The presiding judge resolved to adjourn the trial to March 4, so that the MoH’s report should be obtained. The court itself is expected to write to the MoH to request for the report.
