Rwanda National Police

Walking into a hospital with hopes for quality services is one of the most encouraging moments for any patient.

Those that have walked through Kacyiru Police Hospital seeking for treatment, speak out on the kind of service and treatment they get.

Eunice Musabemwese, a 51-years old mother of four, spent years battling with abdominal pains, she frequented several hospitals trying to find out what was causing the pains and get treatment.

Musabemwese, a resident of Rwamagana District had lost hope yet the pain in her stomach was getting acute each day.

One morning, the bed-ridden ailing mother woke up to attend to one of her neighbors who had visited her.

“I was in a completely sorry state, my neighbor told me to try Kacyiru Police Hospital (KPH). I had completely lost hope, I didn’t believe there was a cure for the pain I had,” said Musabemwese.

On September 29, Musabemwese walked through KPH gates.

Indeed, upon meeting with the doctors, Musabemwese was diagnosed with an abdominal tumour that needed urgent attention.

“I was immediately admitted and preparations for an operation started right away. I had boarded a bus that morning coming to the hospital hoping that the best I would get would be an appointment and I expected to go back home,” the smiling Musabemwese says.

She was successfully operated the following day but doctors recommended that she stays admitted for easy monitoring.

When our reporter visited the hospital on October 7, Musabemwese was fully recovering.

“I was overwhelmed by the way doctors cared about me, even deep in the night they still check on me, I didn’t have to call them. They listen and ensure patients’ satisfaction.”

Musabemwese shares the same story with tens of thousands others that have acquired treatment from KPH since 2009 when it was established as part of the Rwanda National Police support to health development in the country.

There are also those that visit the hospital for treatment because their friends and family have recommended the services at KPH.

Among those include Clever Kagame, a 38 years old resident of Kanombe who checked in at KPH for a general check up after a friend commended the services offered by the hospital.

“It’s my first time here; a friend spoke very highly of this hospital, so I decided to come for a general check up and I must say I am very impressed and satisfied with the services,” said Kagame.

As patients’ satisfaction scores continue to play a major role at KPH, the hospital commandant, Commissioner of Police, Dr. Daniel Nyamwasa says that there are major steps that have been taken since 2009, in improving patients’ experience and that “a lot more is in the pipeline to revamp the hospital.”

“We started with only three departments; gynecology, obstetrics and neonatology, anti-Gender Based Violence, and the forensic medicine department. As part of the support services, KPH also started with a laboratory and pharmacy while the para-clinical services included the dental and imaging sections (radiography) that became operational in 2010,” Dr. Nyamwasa says.

Evolution

In 2010, the hospital had an annual turn out of patients standing at 3,000. At the moment, the hospital receives at least 36,000 patients every year.

“Of course as the number of patients increased, we also had to increase the number of medical practitioners from 104 in 2010, to 166 as of current. We have also increased the number of mortuary refrigerators from the previous 9 to 33 because all the unidentified bodies picked from different parts of the country I brought here,” said Nyamwasa.

Kacyiru Police Hospital is the only one in Rwanda with forensic department and forensic specialists.

The hospital currently has a state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with hormones testing machine, and a celioscopy technology that assists in conducting an operation without opening a body.

“Currently we are constructing a maternity ward extension that will accommodate 40 bed making the overall number of bed 100 in the maternity section,” said CP Nyamwasa.

 As part of the future plans of the hospital, Dr. Nyamwasa said that RNP in the process of revamping it into a referral hospital.

“…but this requires us to have a number of things in place to grow and graduate to a referral. So, come November, Rwanda National Police will commence the construction of a Rwf5.6 billion ultra-modern hospital block.

The construction of a six storied building is expected to be completed in three years and will be in position to accommodate 161 beds.

“In the new hospital building, we will have all the major departments like, internal medicine, surgery, pediatric, intensive care, emergency, VIP wing, laboratory and imaging departments,” said the hospital commandant.

He however pointed out that currently, the specialty of KPH is the forensic medicine, the only one of the kind in the country.

Establishment of ultra-modern forensic lab

The construction of the ultra-modern Kigali Forensic Laboratory at the KPH is nearing completion. The current scientific laboratory - Kigali Forensic Laboratory - conducts only DNA sampling, document examination and fingerprint analysis.

Once complete, the new laboratory will offer about ten forensic disciplines including DNA, toxicology and ballistics.

Toxicology is a test done on a person who, for instance, was poisoned while ballistics are tests that involve arms and explosives.

With the new facility, it means that even an ordinary Rwandan can also attain cheaper forensic services locally.

“We deal with application of medical knowledge in handling social and judicial matters. We aid courts and investigators in making factual decisions. So this expansion plan is meant to facilitate the justice system, but also cut expenditures in transporting samples abroad,” said Dr Xavier Hakuzimana, the head of KPH forensic department.

“To give you a precise example of what we do, assume someone dies instantly and there are allegations of murder with suspects in custody, the court may order an autopsy on the body to prove the cause of death and this where we come in to apply forensics expertise,” Hakuzimana said.

Currently, the department has the ability of working on about 300 autopsy cases a year although Hakuzimana believes the figure can go up if his team got more trainings and more staff.

“As part of the expansion of this department, we plan on having toxicological services and anatomical pathology technicians in future. We also plan to partner with other medical institution to start of a transplantation unit, but we will start with optical transplant” said Hakuzimana.