The Minister of Health has created a Joint Investigation Team to dig into the alleged clinical malpractices at Baho International Hospital.

This team consists of nine individuals who started their investigations on September 10, 2021 and are expected to provide a comprehensive report in five working days.

The team consists of Dr. Cornielle Ntihabose from the Ministry of Health as its Chairperson, Dr. Lysette  Umutesi from RSSB as the Vice Chairperson, Mr. Hesron Byiringiro from Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority, Innocent Kagabo from the National Council of Nurses and Midwives, and Jean Damascene  Gasheruka from the Rwanda Allied Health Professional Council.

Other members include Philbert Ciza from the Ministry of Health, Dr. Jean Damascene Hanyurwimfura from the Rwanda Medical and Dental Council, Fidele Bimenyimana from the National Pharmacy Council as well as Donatien Ntagara Ngabo from the Ministry of Health.

The latest of the Nyarutarama based hospital’s woes surfaced on September 8, 2021 when a lady only as of now identified as Chantal lost her life after going for a simple family planning procedure that was fatal and cost her life.

Prior to that saga, the hospital had again come under strong criticism from social media users over their lack of professionalism in areas of customer care as well as hygiene in and around the hospital premises.

In the July incidence, one Twitter user identified as Lucy Mbabazi, went to the hospital with a 10am appointment but was shocked to reach and there were eight people in front of her in the line without appointments and she was finally able to receive help at 1pm.

When she took to twitter to express her dissatisfaction at the service she was given at the hospital, the hospital got defensive through its twitter account, replying to the patient’s complaint that if she had another urgent program to attend after meeting the doctor, she would have asked the customer care team to assist.

The July backlash had prompted the Ministry of Health to carry out a quick assessment into the complaints after which the hospital came out and admitted its shortcomings and asked for forgiveness with a promise to work on the areas that were lacking.

A letter that was also signed by the Chairperson of the hospital, Joseph Kayibanda, read, ‘’We would like to express our sincere apology to the public and especially our patients whom we have let down recently in customer care.”

Barely months after the apology and Ministry of Health’s investigation, one of the hospital’s patients has lost her life which has put the hospital that has been in operation in Rwanda since 2015 into troubles leading to the creation of a team to investigate its activities.

Baho International Hospital is once again under attack on social media users after one of its clients lost her life yesterday. She had undergone a minor surgery in the morning.

This comes months after the private health service provider was strongly criticized for its poor hygiene and lack of customer care towards its patients.

The backlash prompted the Ministry of Health to carry out a quick assessment into the complaints after which the hospital came out and admitted its shortcomings and asked for forgiveness and promised to work on the areas which were lacking.

A letter that was signed by the hospital’s Chairperson, Joseph Kayibanda, read, ‘’We would like to express our sincere apology to the public and especially our patients whom we have let down recently in customer care.
The health service provider that has been operating in Rwanda since 2015 has been in the media for mostly the wrong reasons and the most recent one came in yesterday after a lady up to now only known as Chantal went to the Nyarutarama based hospital for a simple family planning procedure but unfortunately lost her life.

Its most recent woes before the most recent one started on July 10,2021 when one dissatisfied citizen went to social media and raised a concern over failure to be attended to on a medical appointment that was scheduled for 10am but instead received it at 1pm.

”When you’re given a doctor’s appointment for 10am but told there are 8 people ahead of you with NO appointment,” Lucy Mbabazi tweeted and it was to this tweet that the hospital replied that if she had another urgent program to attend after meeting the doctor, she would have asked the customer care team to assist.

The issue took a twist when the hospital told local media outlets that the patient’s complaint was misplaced and that the probe would be a good witness to the quality of service delivery and it was after this defiance from the hospital that different social media users shared their own experiences at the hospital including foreigners.

This attracted the attention of various prominent Twitter users including RDB CEO Clare Akamanzi.

”How will you change if you can’t even be humble enough to take feedback or comment after thoroughly investigating the complaints? this false confidence isn’t good for service delivery,” she said on Twitter.

In yesterday’s case after the death incidence, different Twitter users went into a frenzy as they expressed their disgust towards the continued poor services of the hospital even after an investigation into their complaints by the Ministry of Health.  The hospital neither denied nor accepted the allegations and they only said, ‘’@BahoIntHospital would like to present its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Chantal.

May her soul Rest In Peace. The case is under investigation by competent authority, we shall let you know further outcome. Thank you,’’ on their Twitter account.

The Rwanda Investigations Bureau Spokesperson Thierry Murangira was contacted for a comment on the ongoing investigations about the incident and he said that a few arrests have been made and a lot can’t be communicated as of now as investigations are still on going.

“Yes! RIB has arrested Dr. Gaspard Ntahonkiriye (Gynecologist) and Dr. Alfred Mugemanshuro (Anesthesiologist) from BAHO International Hospital as part of the ongoing investigation into the death of a female patient (54 year) who died on 09 September, 2021.”

He went on to say that findings of this investigation would be communicated later.

The Rwanda Development Board on behalf of Rwanda has signed a collaboration agreement with the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) that will see developments in the vaccine manufacturing capacity and contribute to expanding vaccine production in Africa.

The IFC will be responsible for conducting diagnostic and feasibility studies to see to it that the right technical and policy frameworks required to establish a world-class vaccine manufacturing supply chain in the country are in place for production of vaccines to be used both locally and for export across the continent.

This new partnership will aim on supporting the country’s recent announcement that it will be working in close association with BioNTech a leading biotech company and the Kenup Foundation to explore establishing end-to-end manufacturing capabilities for the Mran vaccines.

In addition to this, other potential vaccine and pharmaceutical production facilities that include a fill-and-finish facility are expected to share a location with BioNTech in the Kigali Special Economic Zone.

RDB’s Deputy CEO said, ‘’Rwanda aims to produce high quality vaccines for the African market. A production facility like the one envisaged in this collaboration agreement advances this objective. We are please to have IFC as a strategic partner.’’

In his remarks, IFC’S Acting Regional Industry Director for Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services in the Middle East and Africa Samuel Dzotefe noted that, ‘’A resilient Africa needs to develop and maintain its own reliable vaccine supply and health industry. This partnership with RDB is a vital step towards helping Africa build vaccine manufacturing capacity to respond to Covid and future pandemics’’