Restructuring process is set to start at King Faisal Hospital after the official hand over to the new management, Oshen Healthcare Rwanda Limited, a subsidiary of Angolan company Oshen Group SA, yesterday.
Restructuring process is set to start at King Faisal Hospital after the official hand over to the new management, Oshen Healthcare Rwanda Limited, a subsidiary of Angolan company Oshen Group SA, yesterday.
The hand-over follows an agreement between the government, which wholly owns the facility, with Oshen Healthcare Rwanda Limited in April last year.
The agreement covers financing, upgrades, operations and maintenance of the facility with an aim of turning it into a specialty regional referral hospital.
According to King Faisal Hospital, Rwanda, chief executive Emile Rwamasirabo, following the handover, a restructuring process is set to begin toward the end of next month as the facility seeks to hire more specialists to improve services offered.
Dr Rwamasirabo dispelled claims that the high staff turnover at the facility in recent months was a result of the oncoming restructuring, arguing it was largely due to labour market factors.
Although it is still not clear how the staff will be affected, the restructuring is set to affect staff across all levels.
Under the agreement terms, Oshen Healthcare Rwanda is expected to upgrade the current infrastructure by refurbishing and extending buildings, renewing and extending the technology used in diagnostic treatment and overall hospital management.
The new management is also expected to leverage on the existing specialities and introduce new ones to create high performance in priority domains, jointly identified with the Government.
The arrangement allows for a performance based concession to be continuously evaluated using multiple indicators, including; formulation of new centres of excellence and developing existing specialities.
Other indicators include the introduction of the latest technology, building local medical capacity, maintaining international hospital accreditation and increasing both national and regional access to the hospital.
Looking beyond contract duration
Carlos Malet, the Oshen Healthcare director, said they took interest in the facility in 2013 and have over the years pursued relations with the Government of Rwanda and management of the facility.
Malet said they aim to improve the referral facility to be able to address specialty cases, serving the country and the region.
He said they were looking forward to long-term impacts beyond their five-year concession contract.
"We will bring a management model that not only focuses on improving services offered and the way that King Faisal Hospital Rwanda operates but also that opens up the facility’s doors to the public,” Malet said.
He said they had been building ties with major players in the health sector, including insurance companies and financial institutions to make the facility more accessible.
Malet said they were keen on affordability, whereby they were working to align systems and tariffs together with insurers and would also put up a foundation for most vulnerable patients.
He added that the new management was looking into possibilities of interacting with an international network of doctors and healthcare practitioners to ensure that their staff have the best and latest skills.
Asked if the firm has experience in running other major hospitals, the official said that they run several establishments in Latin America.
Health minister Diane Gashumba said the takeover was an important milestone in improving the country’s health sector and would have multiple benefits, including innovation in the sector.