On Monday, WWHPS-CCHIPs was invited to attend the dedication of the first hospital for the Burera District in the Northern Province in Rwanda. The Butaro Hospital, which was a joint venture funded by the Rwandan government, Partners in Health and the Clinton Foundation, is expected to be a model medical facility for the delivery of high-quality healthcare services to people in low-income countries.
Although CCHIPs works at the community/health center level in Rwanda, which is the gateway to all medical care, the opportunity for WWHPS-CCHIPs to network and to learn about how the hospital facilities were designed, built and organized to efficiently and effectively provide healthcare services was very important. In the upcoming weeks, members of the CCHIPs Project team will meet with PIH staff members to discuss PIH/Butaro Hospital initiatives such as their (1) medical equipment procurement procedures, (2) clinical mental health program; and (3) Community Health Worker associations’ microfinance trainings/activities that may represent opportunities for WWHPS-CCHIPs to partner and to enhance its model.
The Butaro Hospital represents a huge milestone for healthcare in Rwanda. The hospital makes high-quality healthcare available to 400,000 Rwandans in the Burera District and relieves pressure on the Ruhengeri District Hospital, which was providing medical care coverage for Burera. The CCHIPs Project is furthering the MoH goal of improving healthcare facilities and services at the health center level. This, in turn, will also reduce the rate of referrals to the Ruhengeri District Hospital.
Healthcare partners working in concert are changing the healthcare aid paradigm and empowering and focusing Rwandans on self-sustainability. WWHPS-CCHIPs is proud to be a part of creating this change.
President Paul Kagame and Richard Sezebera, Minister of Health, inaugurate Butaro Hospital.
Paul Farmer, of PIH, was a driving force behind the creation of the district hospital model. WWHPS-CCHIPs agrees with his philosophy that poor people of the world are entitled to quality healthcare.
Read more about the hospital dedication here.