A team of seven Swiss medical experts who having been working in Ruhengeri hospital for the last three weeks carrying out fistula operations, will conclude their work.It was an arrangement between the Ministry of Health and its Swiss counterparts.40 mothers have so far benefited from surgical fistula operations, while close to 100 have been diagnosed. The Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, hailed the partnership and contribution towards the treatment of a medical disorder that lacks sufficient experts in the country.“We value this exchange and partnership because it comes to add value to the many initiatives we undertake to improve the lives of the affected mothers,” Binagwaho observed. Obstetric fistula is a severe medical condition in which a fistula (hole) develops between either the rectum and vagina, or between the bladder and vagina after severe or failed childbirth.Local medical gynecologists drawn from Rubavu, CHU-Butaru, Kisogora, hospitals, who form part of the team, are learning how to deal with the condition. A Urologist, Dr. Nicolas Defabiani, who is representing the Swiss team, observed that there was need for quick diagnosis and surgical treatment in case fistula develops. “Information concerning management after operation is very critical to ensure complete healing, he insisted. “Rwanda’s organisation makes it a model in sub-Sahara Africa. This is the message I will take as I mobilise other doctors from Europe to return here and see how we can help. I have learnt lots of lessons here,” Defabiani commented. Antoinette Nyirabavunge, 36, from Bugesera, who has had a fistula condition for the last 17 years after three abortive operations, was overwhelmed after regaining her full health. “My husband deserted me after two years after I had given birth to the first child. I have been living alone all these years. I thank the doctors for the service that I could not afford,” Nyirabavunge gladly stated.
