Hospital director sacked over poor hygiene

RWAMAGANA-The Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, has ordered the sacking of Rwamagana Hospital Director, Dr. Jean Claude Ndagijimana, over poor sanitation at the health facility. The minister announced this yesterday while on a tour of Rwamagana Hospital, describing the hygiene standards at the facility as “totally unacceptable.” Binagwaho, who said that the hospital conditions were shockingly below set minimum standards, gave the staff a two-month ultimatum to reform. She lamented that ironically, the whole mess comes at the backdrop of hygiene training workshop conducted at the hospital recently. “Filth is all over in the neonatology room, dirty clothes and shoes scattered in the surgical ward. Hygiene is in a mess...we have sacked the Director of the hospital in connection to all the mess. But even other stakeholders and staff have a hand,” she said. Binagwaho said that failure in the hospital’s leadership and communication was its undoing. “You claim this can be a provincial referral hospital, when it doesn’t even qualify to be a district hospital...your dreams should have a basis!” she said. Reacting to the request to improve the hospital’s infrastructure, the minister noted that everything would go according to the Master Plan. “We have a plan for everything...there is the budget and the master plan. The issue of asbestos roofing is being handled by the government,” she noted. The government has initiated an operation to rid government buildings, mainly hospitals and schools, of asbestos roofs, which medics maintain, are hazardous to people’s health. Several members of staff told the minister they feared for their health, due to lack of protective gear. Esperance Sifa Gasana, a nurse, reported that she had twice pricked herself with a needle that she had used on HIV-positive individuals. “There isn’t enough equipment to protect us. I have had to go on ARVs twice for fear of infection. We are exposed to diseases like TB...we need help,” she bemoaned. The quality of services offered by the hospital that was built in 1950 has for long attracted public condemnation. stephen.newtimes@newtimes.co.rw

National

Hospital director sacked over poor hygiene