Binagwaho irked by students who fail to return after studies abroad

The Health Minister, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, has warned medical students, who after completing internship programmes abroad, do not return for deployment, saying they will repay government funds spent on their education.She said repayment was a principle stipulated in the scholarship contract every beneficiary signs with the Student Financing Agency (SFAR).The minister was speaking yesterday during a certification ceremony of 39 new medical doctors who now await deployment in various district hospitals.According to the Ministry of Health, training one medical doctor under the scholarship programme costs Rwf1.5 million.Dr Binagwaho also decried regular communication breakdown between health providers and patients, a problem she said will be sorted soon. “By keeping the population healthy, by smiling to their clients and welcoming them, healthcare professionals contribute to the economic growth of the country,” she said.She asked the newly appointed doctors to carry out extensive research and participate in various international conferences in order to improve in their work. “Use internet as a valuable learning source. Those who do not publish any article (medical) in a period of three years will not be fit to exercise their profession,” she advised them. “You have seen, you have exchanged, you have practiced; now you are fully responsible of what you are going to do, you are no longer students.”She pointed out that hospitals still have a long way to attain the country’s vision of having one doctor per 10,000 people. Current MoH statistics indicate that for every 170,000 people, there is one doctor.The ministry communicated that although district hospitals had requested for 78 doctors, only 39 were awarded internship certificates and are eligible to apply for work in any district hospital of their choice.