Senators are set to assess the progress in the performance of health posts countrywide, through a field visit across all districts and the City of Kigali, the Senate announced on Monday, January 20. Scheduled for January 21-30, the outreach activity aims to observe the efforts in promoting health posts, the basic health facilities at the administrative cell level. The senators’ tour will focus on health posts’ accessibility to the population, the quality of services, and whether these services are effectively reaching the citizens. ALSO READ: Minister highlights growing importance of health posts in Rwanda During the outreach visits, it is planned that senators will visit at least 60 health posts, and will engage in discussions with local community near those health facilities, as well as meet with local government leaders, including those responsible for health services and community health initiatives. Health posts provide mainly health services for the prevention and treatment of minor diseases. They are the lowest level of health facility in Rwanda's healthcare system. Health posts intend to help reduce the workload at health centres, provide rapid primary health care to patients by reducing the distance to health facilities. According to the Ministry of Health, they offer a reduced package of services, including curative outpatient care, child immunisations, growth monitoring for children under five years, antenatal care and family planning counselling, health education and a few laboratory tests, mostly rapid tests. The tour will also assess the roles of local government, the community, and partners in advancing health posts. Additionally, it will identify the challenges faced in developing these facilities and the strategies planned to overcome them. “The Senate commends the efforts made by the Government of Rwanda to promote health posts and improve access to health services for citizens,” said Senate President, François-Xavier Kalinda. “However, there are challenges affecting the operational effectiveness of these health posts. This is why we are conducting this activity: to evaluate the current condition and come up with recommendations.” ALSO READ: District health facilities worth millions lie idle The tour follows a meeting between senators and the Minister of Health, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, on January 16, regarding the implementation of health policy, the government’s efforts to promote health posts, and the associated challenges and measures being taken to address them. While delivering a presentation on the country’s health sector updates, Nsanzimana indicated that health posts make the biggest portion of medical facilities in Rwanda (57.5 per cent). There are up to 1,280 health posts in the country. ALSO READ: Govt turns to NGOs for better management of health posts The number of people seeking services has increased from more than 71,200 in 2016-17 to more than 3.96 million in 2023-24, implying an increase of more than 55 times within the last seven years. However, the minister said that 80 per cent of health posts operate on a regular basis while 20 per cent have different challenges that were being addressed. Nearly 50 per cent of health posts are managed by private operators; the remaining are under health centres, Nsanzimana indicated.
