Health workers at Gisenyi Hospital in Rubavu District have condemned former colleagues who participated in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in a commemoration event held on Wednesday, June 24.

Doctors, nurses and other health workers gathered to honour patients, caregivers, and fellow medical workers who were killed at the hospital and other health facilities across the district.

They pledged to uphold their professional duty to protect life and reject inhumane acts.

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Dr. Fidèle Imanishimwe, acting Director General of Gisenyi Hospital, condemned former medical professionals who took part in the killings.

"As medical professionals, our primary responsibility is to save lives. However, some of our former colleagues did the opposite in 1994," he said.

"We remind all health providers that our mission is to save lives, not take them away. We strongly condemn those acts because they were inhuman, and we must ensure such events never happen again."

According to Gérard Mbarushimana, a representative of Genocide survivors&039; organisation Ibuka, some medical professionals, including nuns at Nyundo Catholic Diocese, participated in the killing of newborns.

"Commemoration is part of promoting unity and preventing division so that we preserve what the country has achieved," said Mbarushimana.

"Children were killed, mothers were killed," he said. "There were also doctors and nurses who participated in the killings of patients and their caregivers."

He added that the hospital director and other administrators played a key role in planning and carrying out the killings.

"You should condemn the former colleagues who participated in the Genocide, contrary to the professional oath they had taken," he told medical workers at the event.

Mbarushimana recalled a nurse who reportedly declared that there was no medition for Tutsi patients as killings began in the Bigogwe area.

"You should never discriminate among patients. We come to hospitals for you to save our lives."

Rubavu District Mayor Prosper Mulindwa stressed that the events that occurred in health facilities demonstrate the extent to which the Genocide had been systematically planned.

"The health professionals who were supposed to save lives were instead used to kill Tutsi," he told mourners at the event.

"Many Tutsi sought refuge in hospitals but were killed there. We are here to commemorate your former colleagues who lost their lives, learn from this tragic history, and ensure it never happens again."

According to Ibuka Rubavu, at least 35 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi were killed in various health facilities across the district. The organization also reports that some victims' remains are still missing and have yet to be given a decent burial.