French varsity to train plastic surgeons

The National University of Rwanda (NUR) on Wednesday signed an agreement with a French-based university, Paris Descartes, to train plastic surgeons from Rwanda. The country currently has only one plastic surgeon, according to officials. Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, the Rector of NUR, stated that there was urgent need to expand medical specialist areas.“One plastic surgeon is not enough to handle all cases in health facilities across the country. With the new partnership, we will have more surgeons in the field,” he said.Lwakabamba said that local doctors will be sent to the French university adding that more will be sent to South Africa and the United States for specialised studies as plastic surgeons.Dr Thierry Vincent, the Regional Health Advisor from the French Embassy in Nairobi, said they will also offer training in other areas depending on needs from the Rwandan medical service.Vincent added that they will also sign another MoU to offer training for physicians in oncology and radiotherapy.“We should be able to train at least one medic per district in oncology. This year, we are going to train two people in radiotherapy and palliative care,” he said.NUR so far has 150 students training abroad at PhD level, according to officials.Lwakabamba said that they will soon sign another MoU with 13 Swedish universities to train 4,500 medics at Masters level and 1,500 of these at PhD level, within a period of 10 years, in various specialties.