Govt to create 500 health centres across the country

The ministry of Health, in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a global healthcare company, will set up more than 500 health posts in the country to increase access to medical services, especially in remote areas.This will be done through Private Public Partnership (PPP), through health store Holding Rwanda, also known as One Family Health.Other partners in the project include CFW Health Posts, an international NGO, and Ecobank.The project, under which 34 posts have already been created, will also serve subscribers with Mutuelle de Sante (health insurance scheme).GSK Senior Vice President Duncan Learnmouth, during a visit to various facilities in Gasaba district, on Wednesday, said as a global healthcare company, their goal is to improve healthcare services in Africa.“We want to increase the number of patients that visit the health facilities; with health facilities that are close to the community I believe this is achievable,” Learnmouth said.Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, said the health posts will boost efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on health, because they bring services closer to the people.Rwanda has already made big strides towards achieving the three health-related MDGs–Goal 4: Reducing Child Mortality, Goal 5: Improving Maternal Health, and Goal 6 that concerns combating HIV/Aids, Malaria and other diseases.Dr Ndagijimana said the health posts will increase the spirit of entrepreneurship in the health sector, which is mainly seen as a government affair, especially in the countryside.The health posts project is intended to improve the health of rural communities and it will see nurses helped by government to get structures from where to operate while other partners, like GSK, will provide finances in form of loans to the proprietors.The 34 posts have been established in the districts of Gasabo (10 posts), Gatsibo (7), Nyagatare (11), and Kayonza (6).The health posts mostly provide basic healthcare for common diseases such as malaria, worm infections, among others.

National

Govt to create 500 health centres across the country