Following the commitment by 13 varsities from the US which will partner with the Ministry of Health under the HRH programme facilitated by the Clinton Health Access Initiative to improve the healthcare system in Rwanda.
On August, 27 2012 Rwanda launched a seven year- long health Human Resources for Health Programme expecting to benefit the country with at least 500 specialists in several medical fields.
The programme aimed to help address Rwanda’s skills shortage in dental services, nursing and general medical services.
The event was attended by the Minister of Education, Dr Vincent Biruta, who said that with this programme, referral cases in Rwanda will reduce since the country will be having a big number of medical specialists.
He noted the US teams will be teaching and mentoring Rwandan medics thus equipping them with medical skills and strengthening their expertise.
“More highly skilled nurses will also be produced through this programme through improvement of their curriculum. Our goals are ambitious but there’s no doubt that we will not achieve them,” Biruta said.
He added that through the Human Resource for Health Programme, Rwanda was looking forward to become a model in health initiatives.
So far 49 of the medics from different institutions are already in the country to kick-start the implementation of this programme.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Uzziel Ndagijimana, noted that the team, which was around for the launch, had more than 45 medics who will be here for over a year.
“Every US medic will be assigned a particular number of Rwandan medics to coach, teach and mentor for a particular period of time,” He explained.
A report from the Health Ministry shows that Rwanda has less than 30 referral cases abroad but by the end of this seven-year programme, the countrys’ referral cases are expected to reduce.
So far Rwanda has about 130 medical specialists.
He stated that Rwanda currently has 633 general practitioners, 7,286 nurses and 45,000 community health workers.
