Rwanda’s investment in digital health is demonstrating why technology belongs at the centre of efforts to improve healthcare. Earlier identification of high-risk pregnancies, better patient monitoring and access to specialist support are among the interventions officials credit with helping reduce maternal deaths. These are gains worth consolidating. The National Health Intelligence Centre offers another compelling reason to sustain this investment. By bringing together real-time information from community health workers and health facilities across the country, it strengthens the ability to identify emerging problems, guide decisions and direct resources where they are needed. However, the ambition of digitalisation must extend to the patient’s experience from the moment they arrive at a health facility. For someone seeking treatment, progress should mean fewer queues, fewer repeated questions and less time navigating administrative procedures before reaching a health worker. A sophisticated information system should translate into a simpler journey to care. The time patients spend checking their Mutuelle de Santé status, moving between registration desks and repeatedly providing the same information should be behind us. Where these multilayered processes persist, they must become a priority for reform. A patient should be identified, their insurance status verified and their existing records retrieved within minutes. Information already held by one part of the health system should be accessible to authorised staff elsewhere, without requiring the patient to start afresh at every counter or facility. Achieving this requires hospitals, health centres and insurance systems to communicate effectively. It also requires reviewing the procedures themselves. Putting computers on desks achieves little if patients must still pass through the same unnecessary steps. For patients with urgent needs, clinical assessment must take precedence over administrative clearance. A mother arriving with complications should receive immediate attention while registration and insurance questions are handled alongside her care. Health authorities should therefore set clear standards for registration times and track whether facilities meet them. Patient feedback should help identify bottlenecks, while staff should receive the training and support needed to resolve them. Reliable connectivity, functioning equipment and secure access to records must underpin this effort. Patients without smartphones or digital skills must also be able to benefit through assistance at the facility. Rwanda has good reason to keep investing in health intelligence. The next test is whether that intelligence consistently improves access to services. The patient should feel the value of technology through a shorter wait, a smoother referral and timely attention. Every unnecessary administrative delay removed is time returned to care. That must be a central measure of success.
