The Kicukiro Primary Court has postponed, to January 21, the substantive hearing of the case in which two doctors who worked at Baho International Hospital (BIH) are accused of involuntary manslaughter of a patient. The patient in question, Chantal Ngwinondebe, 54, checked into the Kigali-based medical facility in September, seeking the removal of an intrauterine device from her body before dying in the operating theatre. The two medics, Alfred Mugemanshuro, an anaesthesiologist, and Gaspard Ntahonkiriye, a gynaecologist, were subsequently arrested but they were released on bail. The substantive hearing had been scheduled to commence on Friday, November 26, but the civil party in the case asked for postponement, arguing they needed to first access a report from an investigation into the case commissioned by the Ministry of Health (MoH). According to Jean Damascene Kayitana, one of the lawyers who represent Paul Jabo, the widower of the late Ngwinondebe, the findings of the inquiry are key to their case. The investigation involved a team of experts assigned by the MoH to probe the “clinical malpractices” at BIH. Kayitana argued that it is on the basis of that report that the hospital was closed down, and therefore, it is a very crucial document in the trial. In response, the defence lawyers said they had no objection. Kayitana also requested the court to invite the same experts that carried out the investigation to explain the medical technicalities around the incident, during the upcoming hearing. The presiding judge resolved to postpone the trial to allow the civil party time to access the report.
