The number of students enrolled in medicine, nursing and midwifery every year has more than tripled, according to the Minister of State for Health. Speaking to the Parliamentary Committee on Governance and Gender Affairs on Thursday, March 6, Dr Yvan Butera, noted the increase in new students studying medicine, nursing and midwifery would enable Rwanda continues its journey to quadruple its healthcare workforce to meet global standards. ALSO READ: Rwanda's ‘4x4 Reform’ signals a transformative shift in healthcare “Historically, in Rwanda, students enrolled in different medical fields hwere1,604 annually, including medical doctors and nurses. But by late December last year, we had nearly 6,000 students enrolling in healthcare education,” Butera said. “That is a good indicator that shows us that in three to four years, we will have enough number of medical practitioners.” Butera noted that annually, the number of students who enrolled in midwifery was 72, but currently the enrollment is 2,168 students. “The enrollment for nurses was 648 students annually, but now it is 2,200 students. For medical doctors, 200 students enrolled annually, but now we have 420 students,” Butera added. ALSO READ: Drugs covered by Mutuelle double with Rwf20bn more funding He also noted the number of schools had also increased. “For medical specialists, for example, like gynecologists, the University of Rwanda admitted nine annually, but because we increased learning infrastructures and educators, the recent cohort enrolled 78 students. These numbers show us that in three to four years, we will have enough medical practitioners in all medical fields.” The minister remarked that before the reforms known as 4*4 was initiated in July 2023, education institutions that offered midwifery courses were four, and they have increased to 10. “For anaesthesia, we had one school but now we have three. And for pharmacy, we had one school, but we now have two, including the one we inaugurated recently, INES-Ruhengeri.” The state minister also noted the revival of the ‘associate nurse’ programme following requests from citizens. This program allows secondary school students to pursue nursing as a subject combination over three years, from senior four to senior six, Butera said. “That program existed and later stopped, but in July 2023, it was reinstated. Now we have 18 schools in Rwanda teaching nursing, and the first cohort graduated last year. We have 210 graduates of the Associate Nurse programme, and they will do the exam and later start working,” Butera added. “And these students work in areas where we found to have more challenges, especially in health posts.” Butera noted that the number of medical universities in Rwanda has also grown, rising from two to five. “The institutions now include the University of Rwanda, Adventist University of Central Africa, the University of Global Health Equity, King Faisal Hospital’s newly established Africa Health Sciences University, and the University of Medical Science and Technology, which relocated from Sudan to Rwanda,” he added. Butera also noted that the number of teaching hospitals increased from five to 15 teaching universities across the whole country. The minister emphasized that this progress will help to increase the medical professionals, life expectancy, and quality service delivery. Life expectancy in Rwanda was about 70 years in 2022, according to the population census of the same year. “Our projections indicate that life expectancy in Rwanda will reach 80 years by 2035 and 90 by 2050,” Butera noted. “With the increasing number of medical professionals, particularly in local health facilities such as health posts, health centers, and community health worker programmes, we anticipate a 60 per cent reduction in deaths caused by infectious diseases and maternal mortality.”
