BUJUMBURA, April 24th (ABP) – The Council of Ministers met on Wednesday 17 April 2024 in Gitega under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye.
The communiqué issued by the Secretary General of the State, Jérôme Niyonzima, states that the draft ordinance relating to the rules and procedures for the transplantation of organs and other human tissues, autopsies and the dissection of human cadavers for teaching and scientific research has been adopted.
The draft was presented by the Minister for Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Dr Lidwine Baradahana.
The handling of human organs and cadavers is of interest for a number of reasons, including the initial training of undergraduate medical students, training during the third cycle of medical studies, continuing education and scientific research.
In Burundi, cadaver dissection has no place in the anatomy laboratories of medical faculties, either for training or for research. The importance of dissecting human cadavers in Burundi’s medical faculties is therefore undeniable, given all its interests at all levels of medical training and for scientific research.
In the regional context, Burundi is still lagging behind in scientific research in terms of human anatomy laboratories. None of the three universities with medical faculties has a human anatomy laboratory.
It is in that context that, at the end of the third inspection of the East African Community carried out in November 2022, recommendations were made to the government of Burundi, the main one being that requesting the Republic of Burundi to ensure that each medical school creates an anatomy laboratory, as required by the guidelines for medical and dental training in the member countries of the community.
That is the purpose of the decree, which proposes a procedure to be followed from the collection of cadavers and parts of cadavers to their burial.
It should be emphasised that the removal and transplantation of organs, tissues and body products, as well as experiments on the human body, may not be carried out for commercial or profit-making purposes.
After discussion and debate, the draft was adopted subject to certain corrections.
During the meeting, the draft ministerial order revising ministerial order 570/423 of 30 April 2006 on the organisation of the continuous working day was also analysed and presented by the Minister for the Civil Service, Labour and Employment, Venuste Muyabaga. At present, the working day runs from 7.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. from Monday to Friday, with a 30-minute rest period. Non-compliance with working hours is a major challenge if we are to contribute to the implementation of the Vision of a Burundi emerging in 2040 and developed in 2060. With a view to facilitating the performance of workers in a less stressful climate, the draft ordinance proposes the reorganisation of working hours to enable civil servants to be on time.
At the end of the analysis, the Council of Ministers noted that it was not the current timetable that posed a problem, but that it was the civil servants who had adopted bad habits to avoid being on duty on time under the complacent eye of their supervisors. It was decided to maintain the current timetable and to introduce rigorous monitoring of staff through digital management of their attendance, and to penalise late arrivals and absences in accordance with the law.