NGOZI August 4th (ABP) – Burundi Head of State Evariste Ndayishimiye proceeded, on Thursday August 3, to the inauguration of the mother-child building at the Kiremba hospital. It is a building that will accommodate more than 200 additional patients in addition to the 213 beds that existed at the hospital.
It includes maternity wards, neonatology, operating theatre, accommodation rooms and bedrooms and consulting rooms.
The Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS said that the health sector has made significant progress in these years. Evidenced by the pre- and post-natal consultations, free healthcare for pregnant women and children under 5, the services of community health workers and the step taken by Burundi in the fight against AIDS, to name but a few.
President Ndayishimiye warmly thanked the parish priest of Kiremba and the director of the hospital for the acts they are doing for the people of Burundi in general and those of Ngozi in particular.
That priest, who did not even study medicine, knew how to set up a great project and succeeded in putting it into implementation.
That faith-based hospital employs a staff of 200 people. Among these, only eight are paid by the State and the hospital manages to pay the wages regularly. He is therefore a good leader who deserves to be congratulated.
President Ndayishimiye has warned the heads of health facilities who steal revenue. He asked the minister in charge of public health to draw up a timetable for inspections of the finances of public hospitals. This is to effectively combat embezzlement and other economic misappropriations that are observed in the health sector.
The Head of State asked Burundians to be united and work for sustainable development. The time is no longer for the destruction of the country but for its reconstruction.
The visit of the Head of State coincided with the celebration of 60 years of existence of the hospital. The Renato Monolo Hospital in Kiremba is a gift from the Second Vatican Council which took place from 1963 to 1965. On the sidelines of those ceremonies, the Head of State offered a kit of materials to community health workers; a kit consisting of bicycles, boots, umbrellas, panniers and solar lamps.