Rubavu District authorities have decided to move the Gisenyi Hospital to a safer location after it was affected by tremors, which followed the eruption of Nyiragongo volcano in May last year.

Officials said the decision to relocate the district hospital was motivated in part by the effects of the earthquakes.

A July 2021 government report on the earthquakes said the relocation of Gisenyi District Hospital was a "top priority.”

"Construction of a new hospital will be completed by 2024,” Ildephonse Kambogo, the Mayor of Rubavu District told The New Times on Sunday, February 6, adding that the new hospital will be built in Rugerero Sector, which is about five kilometres from Rubavu town.

He said that except for cancer treatment, the new hospital will provide "all other medical services, including surgery and heart treatment.”

"The old hospital has the capacity of hosting not more than 300 people, and we want to build a new hospital which can accommodate 400-500 patients or more,” Kambogo said.

Built in 1953, the Gisenyi Hospital is located by the roadside in downtown Rubavu, in an area that is known as a black spot for accidents.

Kambogo added that the new facility will also serve residents of Nyabihu and Rutsiro districts and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Considering the growing number of people who seek different medical services, we need a hospital not only for Rubavu residents but also for our neighbours. For example, we have noticed that many wealthy Congolese people fly to India and other places to seek medical services we currently do not provide.”

Kambogo said construction of the new hospital will cost €32 million (approximately Rwf38.17 billion) and the Hungarian government has agreed to fund the project.

He added that technical experts from the district, the Ministry of Health, the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) and the Hungarian embassy collaborated in the preparation of the three-year project.

The Gisenyi hospital suspended most of its essential services for over a week, as the buildings had been cracked by the volcanic earthquakes.

It is now located along a fault line, which resulted from the tremors.

The government post-disaster report recommended only "recreational facilities and light structures,” would be allowed in the faultline buffer zone.

After the earthquakes, health facilities in Rubavu recorded damages valued at over 1.9 billion.

Residential and commercial buildings as well as other infrastructure, such as roads, electricity and water were also affected.

The overall recovery plan, the report estimated, will cost over Rwf91 billion