Suspended health facilities include Isangano Clinic, Santé Clinic and Polyclinique Le Bon Berger following an improvised inspection by the Ministry of Health at different private clinics in Kigali.
The inspection aimed assessing management efficiency, employees’ welfare, capacity, available equipment, standards of drugs and the status of hygiene.
Dr. Corneille Ntihabose, the Head of Clinical and Public Health Services at Ministry of Health has told IGIHE that these clinics are suspended for various reasons.
“We have noticed poor hygiene inside and outside buildings of Polyclinique Le Bon Berger to the extent that it cannot be tolerated. The way they disinfect medical equipment to be reused are against established guidelines in the health sector,” he said.
“The clinic had two health workers without renewed licenses allowing them to operate. The clinic’s building is very old. It is neither well maintained nor sprayed with new paints as a facility suitable to receive patients,” added Dr. Ntihabose.
As he explained, Isangano Clinic had issues including lack of water and washing facility, expired drugs, workers without employment contracts and poor hygiene particularly in the laboratory.
Dr. Ntihabose revealed that Santé Clinic was also spotted with poor hygiene inside and outside buildings. Among others, the clinic was found with expired drugs and the building operates without appropriate place for waste disposal.
“If we are to promote medical tourism and maintain Rwandans’ health, such facilities should be in the right position to complement these initiatives. That is why we are inspecting clinics through ongoing intensified scrutiny to be rolled out upcountry,” he said.
It is expected that suspended clinics will apply for authorization to resume operations after adjusting to required standards.
According to a joint statement signed yesterday by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the Ministry of Health, the Government has established new health and safety measures to mitigate the pandemic following the recent increase in COVID-19 cases.
As of newly established measures, all staff in selected hotels and restaurants and all clients visiting these establishments are required to present a negative COVID-19 test (PCR or Antigen rapid test).
Tests must be taken within 7 days for visiting clients and 14 days for staff while testing can be done at designated sites at own cost.
As per new guidelines, accredited private clinics with partner hotels may arrange on-site testing in an appropriate room available at the hotel.
Only trained medical personnel staff from accredited clinics will be allowed to conduct the tests and results that must be uploaded into the national health management information system.
All clients are required to present the results at the hotel, restaurant entrance to a designated staff who must scan the QR code on the clients’ certificate and access the RBC app to confirm authenticity. Clients may also be requested to present their identity cards for verification of test results.
Hotels concerned with new guidelines include Kigali Marriott Hotel, Radisson Blu & Kigali Convention Center Hotel, Kigali Serena Hotel and The Retreat Hotel.
Selected restaurants are; The Retreat Restaurant, Choose Kigali Restaurant, Meza Malonga Restaurant, Brachetto Restaurant, Soy Restaurant, Nyurah Restaurant, Inka Steak House, The Hut Restaurant, Epicurien Restaurant, Poivre Noir Restaurant, Repub Lounge and Kury Kingdom Restaurant.
Issued guidelines indicate that these hotels and restaurants will report status on staff testing to RDB and RBC every two weeks. They are also required to give notice of the exact number of people that can be hosted in various outlets and meeting rooms equivalent to 30% occupancy while clients who do not have a valid test result will be denied access to the hotel or restaurant.
The statement also reads that outdoor dining and events are encouraged where feasible as they present less risk for the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. Participants are however encouraged to continue adhering to COVID-19 preventive measures.
Other hotels and restaurants not mentioned on the list will be subject to randomized sample testing undertaken by RBC for both their clients and staff.
The Ministry of Local Government, RDB, RBC, and Rwanda National Police will ensure enforcement of these new measures to take effect from Friday 18th June 2021.
Speaking to RBA; the Deputy CEO of RDB Zephanie Niyonkuru explained that the decision was reached after consultations with other relevant institutions.
He said that the list might be updated depending on further assessments.
“The list will be revised every two weeks. We have started with frequently visited hospitality establishments but RBC will also conduct random testing to other hotels and restaurants to assess status of the pandemic,” he revealed.
The country has been recording surge in new COVID-19 cases for the past few days confirming over 200 positive test results every day.
This prompted the Government to revise existing measures countrywide and placed Rubavu district under lockdown yesterday. Other sectors considered major hotspots for new cases in Rutsiro, Gicumbi and Nyagatare were subjected to revised curfew hours from 9 p.m. to 7 p.m. until further notice.
Rwanda confirmed the first Coronavirus case on 14th March 2020. Since then, 29 175 people have been tested positive of whom 26 383 recovered, 2416 are active cases, 11 are critically ill while 376 have succumbed to the virus.
A total of 389,832 people have been vaccinated since Rwanda began countrywide inoculation program.
Coronavirus symptoms include coughing, flu, and difficulty in breathing. The virus is said to be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.
Rwandans are urged to adhere to COVID-19 health guidelines, washing hands frequently using soaps and safe water, wearing face masks and respecting social distancing.
Dr. Nsanzimana was speaking to the media yesterday on status of the pandemic and ways forward to contain increasing COVID-19 cases across the country.
He urged the general public to draw a lesson from newly confirmed cases among vaccine recipients to heighten vigilance and comply with preventive directives.
“The fact that we have 400 positive cases among recipients of COVID-19 vaccine jabs conveys two messages. Firstly, it means that being vaccinated doesn’t prevent you from being infected. Secondly, a vaccine recipient should be responsible to avoid transmission of COVID-19,” he said.
Towards the end of last week, the Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije said that the country confirmed new COVID-19 cases among vaccine recipients but highlighted that they are not critically ill because the vaccine boosts their immunity to fight the virus.
Minister Ngamije has reminded the general public that it should be everyone’s concern to fight COVID-19.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (American CDC) recently recommended vaccinated people to get tested for COVID.
The center explained that cases of fully vaccinated individuals contracting coronavirus are rare, but possible.
Of the 5.2 million people vaccinated in Illinois State, 243 people have been hospitalized with coronavirus, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health while 81 died of complications related to the virus.
Rwanda has so far vaccinated over 380,000 since the countrywide inoculation program began on 5th March 2021.
Under this framework, a three-day training bringing together representatives from relevant institutions involved in the development of film industry was organized from 1st to 3rd June 2021 in Kigali through existing cooperation between RDB and Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI).
The training saw participants holding discussions around three areas of priority mainly: providing financial support and incentives, building film industry’s capacity and seeking avenues for production agreements between Rwanda and WBI.
Organized by Association des Trophées Francophones du Cinéma (ATFCiné) in collaboration with Rwanda Film Office and WBI, the workshop bringing together experts and different participants from Belgium, French and Senegal present virtually or physically aimed at defining priority course of actions leading to acquire support for the film industry to flourish.
The first day focused on production and training for film industry professionals. With the support of Belgian Producer, Aurélien Bodinaux and Rwanda film Director Joël Karekezi, participants got an insight into the conception, editing, and production of a film dubbed « La Miséricorde de la Jungle»
Participants also learned from the presentation by Dominique Standaert, the Director of Belgium based film school « La HELB ». Following discussions, it was observed that there is a need to offer training on script writing and design, as well as production management.
The second day covered topics revolving around financial support and needed incentives whereby participants requested the establishment of a funding mechanism to support Rwanda’s film industry.
The third and last day was dedicated to international co-production with reference to production agreement signed recently between Senegal and Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
Speakers attending the workshop virtually from Dakar, Senegal tipped participants on possible course of actions for similar agreements to materialize.
Producer Aurélien Bodinaux shared his experience and hinted on funding benefits and popularity of productions among others, once co-production agreements are entered into between Rwanda and WBI.
The workshop identified various courses of action, particularly, the establishment of a film office aimed at promoting Rwanda as a hub for film production on the continent.
A strategic planning workshop is planned in October 2021 to discuss long-term activities in the years to come that will be approved by a joint permanent committee between Rwanda and WBI from December 2021.
[{{Click here to view more pictures}}->https://www.flickr.com/photos/igihepictures/albums/72157719394511230]
In a statement released today, MINALOC explained that the decision is meant to heighten efforts of to contain spread of Coronavirus in collaboration with residents.
The Ministry has also restricted movements in the district from 7 p.m. until 4 a.m. against the previous 9p.m.
The decision to begin curfew from 7p.m will also be respected Rutsiro, Burera, Nyagatare and Gicumbi districts.
Sectors to begin curfew at 7p.m in Rutsiro and Burera include Cyanika, Kagogo, Kinyababa, Butaro, Kivuye and Bungwe.
Other concerned sectors are; Matimba, Musheri, Rwempasha, Tabagwe, Karama and Kiyombe from Nyagatare district as well as Rubaya, Cyumba and Kaniga from Gicumbi district.
The decision will take effect from 17th June 2021 until further notice.
In the first quarter, the service sector was the main contributor with 46% of GDP followed by agriculture sector (27%) and industry (20%) while and 8 percent was attributed to adjustment for taxes and subsidies on products.
In the first quarter of 2021, GDP at current market prices was estimated at Rwf 2,579 billion up from Rwf 2,410 billion of the same quarter in 2020.
Agricultural activities grew by 7 percent and contributed 1.7 percentage points to overall GDP growth. Within agriculture, the production of food crops increased by 7 percent while the production of export crops increased by 7 percent too.
Industrial activities grew by 10 percent and contributed 1.7 percentage points to GDP growth. The main contributors in the industry sector were construction activities which grew by 14 percent and manufacturing activities which grew by 8 percent. Mining and quarrying activities also increased by 3 percent.
The growth in manufacturing activities is attributed to an increase of 7 percent in food processing, 17 percent in Wood & paper; printing, 29 percent in metal products, machinery & equipment and 20 percent in production of Chemicals and plastic products. However, textiles, clothing & leather goods and non-metallic mineral products declined by 2 percent and 3 percent respectively.
Service sector remains at the same level of quarter one of 2020, thus 0 percent growth. Within services sector, information & communication services increased by 18 percent, professional, scientific & technical activities increased by 10 percent, real estate activities increased by 3 percent while education increased by 5 percent.
However, human health & social work activities decreased by 12 percent, hotel and restaurant services by 34 percent, administrative and support services by 4 percent and public administration and defense; compulsory social security by 2 percent.
NISR has revealed that total final consumption expenditure decreased by 2 percent in the first quarter of 2021, with household final consumption declining by 2 percent while Government final consumption remained constant at 0% growth. Exports decreased by 19 percent, imports decreased by 22 percent while Gross Capital Formation increased by 3 percent.
The delegation, led by Brig Gen Aniedi Edet has paid a courtesy call to Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Army Chief of Staff (ACOS), Lieutenant General Mubarakh Muganga after which they received a presentation on the RDF roles and organisation.
The Team leader and Director of Coordination of the visiting team spoke at length on their tour in Rwanda and thanked RDF for a warm welcome extended to the delegation so far.
“For this year, we are eight teams going to other parts of the world, but team seven came to Rwanda to particularly explore the strides achieved in the area of Digital healthcare in Rwanda and draw lessons,” said Brig Gen Edet.
He highlighted that the selection of Rwanda was mainly motivated by the existing strategic partnership between Rwanda and Nigeria.
Rwanda and Nigerian militaries have exchange training programme at the senior command and staff course level that has been going on for quite some time.
The delegation from NDC started their official tour on Monday. They visited Kigali Genocide Memorial where they paid respect to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.
During their week-long tour, the delegation will also visit the Ministry of Health, Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), Zigama CSS, Military Medical Insurance, Rwanda Military Hospital, Campaign Against Genocide Museum, Huye Museum and other key government and public institutions.
Minister Busingye made the call during a three-day training aimed at building capacities for journalists reporting justice and human rights issues and exchanging ideas on the implementation the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations on human rights.
On 25th January 2021, Rwanda participated in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) where Minister Busingye presented Rwanda’s 3rd report to the Human Rights Council.
At the time, Rwanda received 284 recommendations from the United Nations Human Right Council, of which the country accepted to implement 160 over the next five years and took note of 75.
Busingye urged journalists to model good values and reminded them of their role in implementation process.
“The media plays a critical role during this process and is considered to measure moral virtues. I believe such subjects are covered at schools of journalism. Even though you might not have learnt it at school, it should be made clear that practicing journalists are like priests. Usually, a priest has a critical role in the society because he is not supposed to advise people against theft and later do the same after removing his clergy robe. A journalist also falls under this category of people highly expected to practice what they preach. When he/she is reporting and digging deeper into story details, the journalist should be modeling moral virtues,” he said.
Busingye highlighted that the media can help the Government to review achievements that no one should ignore its contribution to the society.
“It is not only the duty of our superiors to hold us accountable but also citizens should be involved. The media is a powerful tool to bridge us. It is considered the catalyst of positive transformations bringing together all concerned parties for common understanding which is a crucial aspect globally,” he said.
Taking an example of Rwanda’s dark history which led to the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, Busingye reflected how media houses including RTLM and Kangura served as tools to spread propaganda mobilizing Hutu to kill Tutsi and urged journalists to foster positive change.
The training sought, among other things, to know/understand and exchange ideas on the place and role of the media in the implementation of recommendations, increase the capacity of media professionals on the UPR process; informing and involving the public.
It also aimed at raising awareness of the media professionals on the general outcome of Rwanda’s third review under the UPR; discuss and adopt strategies for the implementation of the recommendations relevant to press and media freedoms.
These figures were released on Monday 14th June at the celebration of World Blood Donor Day held in Ruhango district at national level.
Ruhango is among top districts of Southern Province where a large number of blood units were collected.
This year’s World Blood Donor Day was marked under the theme ‘Give blood and keep the world beating’.
The mayor of Ruhango district, Valens Habarurema urged residents to continue supporting the good cause to save people’s lives.
“We are excited to see the World Blood Donor Day celebrated in Ruhango district at national level. It is not by coincidence but rather a result of residents’ generosity and commitment to donate blood. We should strive to do more,” he noted.
Dr. Swaibu Gatare, the Head of Biomedical Service department at Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) urged Rwandans not to lend ears to rumours about blood donation exercise.
“Some people spread rumours that donating blood once results into health complications like blood pressure among others. It is untrue,” he noted.
Dr. Gatare demystified such rumours adding that a blood donor recovers donated blood within 24 hours.
Benoit Munyemana, a resident who has donated blood 76 times emphasized the need to participate in the exercise to save lives and encouraged people to follow the suit.
“I am convinced that donating blood is a kind act to save lives of people in critical condition. Everyone should donate blood willingly because it has a far-reaching impact to the community,” he enthused.
A total of 203 blood units were donated in Ruhango district at the celebration of World Blood Donor Day.
According to the 2020 annual report of the Blood Transfusion Department of RBC, Rwanda needs approximately 288 blood component units every day. Most transfusion cases are due to Malaria, pregnancies and birth complication cases and cancer cases followed by road accidents.
The demand for blood components from health facilities were 100,935 units in 2020. Of these, RBC supplied 93,993 units which is 93.12 % hospital satisfaction.
World Blood Donor Day, an initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO), is observed every year on June 14. This day is celebrated to spread awareness about the significance of blood donation and to recognize the contribution of voluntary unpaid blood donors in saving lives.
The first World Blood Donor Day was observed by WHO in 2004 and was declared as an annual global event in the 58th World Health Assembly in 2005. The day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Austrian biologist and physician, Karl Landsteiner. He is considered to be the founder of modern blood transfusion.
The platform dubbed Teacher Management and Information System (TMIS) was officially launched on 1st June 2021.
Developed by Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) in collaboration with UNICEF, the TMIS, developed for Rwanda’s primary and secondary education, will support the monitoring of teachers’ licensing, appointments, placements, transfers, evaluations, promotions, and terminations as well as provide an accurate and timely overview of the teaching workforce in the country.
Gaspard Twagirayezu, the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education at MINEDUC has observed that embracing technology in teachers’ management is of crucial relevance noting that they will stay closer to them to boost quality education.
“This constitutes a significant innovation in this space. The TMIS will provide us with a list of active teachers, which will help us with planning and budgeting,” he said.
“We thank UNICEF and the Mastercard Foundation who have taken a bold step forward to support the improvement of teacher management in Rwanda. The TMIS delivers a real solution to a problem that has been affecting the education sector for some time in our country,” added Twagirayezu.
The TMIS, which has recently been upgraded to ensure its alignment with the new teacher statute, can be accessed by more than 14 categories of users in the National Education System. These categories range from the Senior Management of the Rwanda Education Board to the teams in charge of teacher placements, incentives, and trainings, as well as the directors of education in all districts of Rwanda.
Commenting on the system, Julianna Lindsey, UNICEF Representative in Rwanda said: “This TMIS will ensure that the education system has state of the art technology to support the administration and management of teachers thereby increasing efficiency and performance.”
This holistic approach will provide the Rwanda education system with an opportunity to not only better understand its human capital allocation resources, but also to improve the quality of teaching by providing teachers with more time to focus on their students.
Rica Rwigamba, Rwanda Country Head at the Mastercard Foundation commended the partnership that yielded fruits to enhance efficient teachers’ management and subsequently boost quality education.
“Quality education has always been at the center of our interventions and the TMIS provides a more automated as well as robust back-end to the education system, which helps to improve the qualitative aspects of the teaching workforce,” he said.
To date, UNICEF has officially transitioned the TMIS to the Rwanda Education Board but will continue to provide technical support as required during the maintenance period which will end in December 2021 – later on, TMIS will be integrated with the broader Education Management Information System as part of the 2nd phase of the project. The Rwanda Education Board will soon provide professional licenses to teachers who have fulfilled their requirements, as per the teacher statute.
A teacher can access the system through provided website link www.education.rw/tmis/ , click ‘existing teacher’, nationality and fill identifications in provided table.
Then, she/he clicks to ‘check’ whereafter a specific table to be filled appears immediately.
