The Ministry of Health says that in order to promote the development of health services for Rwandans and their neighbors, in the next four (4) years, Rwanda plans to increase the number of nurses, where they will be in The number of clinics in the country will be four (4) times the current number.
This is what was reiterated on March 18, 2024, by the Minister of Health, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, when he opened the international meeting being held in Rwanda organized by the MSH organization, which has the goal of cooperation between countries in terms of building the capacity of workers of doctors and their number.
It is an international conference gathered in Rwanda, where the participants include international organizations and health experts from about 20 countries of the world, who were looking together at how countries should cooperate in building the capacity of medical workers and number of them.
Minister of Health, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana
The Minister of Health, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, says that in collaboration with the organization that builds the capacity of the health sector MSH, Rwanda is going to increase the number of nurses in four years called 4×4 and they will be four times compared to the existing ones. that will be done through increasing knowledge.
He said: “The new thing is that we have been discussing with MSH for a few days how we can continue to work together in the next five years regarding priorities in the health sector. four times can even exceed, so MSH also had in their plans to prioritize long-term education, so this is where we are joining them on the first thing that we have in particular as a country.”
“another thing is that they are already helping us in the field of health… training people, including equipment, how we build clinics, how we repair and other equipment, it’s a place where you can gather that if it’s done well, it’s very productive for the country, … there’s a project we started with them three months ago , you will spend five years and one of your goals is to build the health sector by helping us educate those who work in the health sector, especially midwives, doctors and nurses, all of which are part of the long-term program we have with them,… we have in There are not many nurses in Rwanda, a little over a thousand and one, but as I said, we would like to have at least four of them. mike, it’s a big gap because there are only a few, but their ability is not very high, not MSH will be involved, there are others, but so far they are the ones who have taken a step in this stage. It’s a 4-year program we call 4×4.”
Mrs. Marian Went Worth, the CEO of MSH worldwide, says that they decided to hold this meeting in Rwanda after finding that it is an exemplary country in the development of Health Services.
He said: “We have gathered in Rwanda because it is a good place that is easy to get to, it is a country that has built a health system that appears to be developing, it has developed in many things, the world can become like it, including the level of health that we are discussing, the problem of the workers in this field and the insufficient workers we want to deal with, it is general and not unique to Rwanda.”
Dr Anitha Asiimwe, director of the USAID Quality project funded by MSH, says that building staff and increasing capacity in the medical sector are their priorities.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that in 1994, there were less than 400 nurses in Rwanda, but this number increased until the year 2023, when there were more than 1,000, and they are the ones who take care of more than 13 million Rwandans, in if this increase program would be achieved, the country will have about 4000 nurses in the next five years.
