Rwanda Military Hospital, Kanombe has broken the ground yet again by opening a fertility clinic, a much-sought after service for infertile couples. Very few people could afford the in-vitro fertilisation process and other related treatment whose costs have soared to as much as ten million francs. The icing on the cake is that the services are covered by the community health insurance (Mutuelle de Santé) unlike other specialised treatments and procedures. The Rwanda military has been investing heavily in the medical field for the last two decades. Its doctors and specialists man most of the major hospitals and its Kanombe-based hospital has become the medical destination of choice for many. The hospital has some of the best orthopedic surgeons (dealing with bone or skeletal operations), oncologists (cancer) and traumatic injuries that have also attracted patients from around the region. As has been pointed out in the past, Rwanda’s medical insurance coverage is an envious one on the continent with about 90 per cent of the population at any given time. Most are covered by Mutuelle de Santé, a scheme that does not cover some medical interventions as those subscribed under RAMA, a scheme that covers employees in the public and private sector. Now that both schemes are under one roof – Rwanda Social Security Board – it is time for stakeholders to sit down and see how they can do away with the discrepancies in the services available to RAMA and Mutuelle de Santé. The old arguments do not hold true, that Mutuelle subscribers pay very little and are the most who seek medical services. The 15 per cent deduction from employee salaries towards RAMA should be enough to cover the shortfall. But whatever the case, the Ministry of Health would be well-advised to pick a leaf from the soldiers.
