The works to upgrade the infrastructure of King Faisal Hospital are nearing completion and the contractor is expected to hand over the project by next month, February 2021. The infrastructure upgrade which commenced in January 2020 and was set to be complete last year but the deadline was not met due to the Covid-19 pandemic that the country has been battling for almost the past one year. The project involved the construction of a new outpatient facility, set up of a premium services clinic, renovation and expansion of the older facility, installation of a ramp connecting the new building and the older one as well as procurement of equipment. The upgrade will now see the hospital have 45 consultation rooms from about 20 rooms currently. The upgrade also involves a facelift of the 30-year old hospital, renovating sections of the existing facilities, including the lobby, electricity installations and ramps. Prof. Miliard Derbew, the Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Hospital According to Prof. Miliard Derbew, the Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Hospital, while the works had been expected to be completed by June last year, the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequently lockdown led to delays in project implementation. Even after the lifting of the lockdown, he said that the new target deadline of September could not be achieved as there were lockdowns in other parts of the world affecting access to equipment and materials. “Even though the lockdown had been eased there were delays in arrival of equipment. By August, construction was around 60 per cent complete and by December it was about 90 per cent. We are on the verge of completion. We are working to complete the works and by this week we will commence working on provisional hand over,” he said. This is the first phase of the infrastructure upgrade with a second phase planned to set up a research and education wing among others. The total cost of the first and second phase (yet to commence) is expected to cost $20 million (about Rwf19bn). The hospital has also since acquired equipment such as a catheterization laboratory, a diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualize the arteries of the heart and the chambers of the heart and treat any abnormality found. The hospital also recently commissioned a new 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machine, Gastroenterology equipment for procedures such as endoscopy. The hospital has also been on a human resource exercise which seeks to add up to increase the number of specialists available. When Prof. Milliard took over office, in August 2020, he said that they intend to attract Rwandan specialists working in other countries across the world as well as African specialists working in other countries. “We are still pursuing goals to increase the number of specialists in Rwanda. We would like to attract Rwandans abroad to return here. We are in touch with them and following up. We have managed to attract specialists from other African countries,” he said. So far, the hospital has managed to recruit a Specialist on Minimal Invasive Surgery from Cameroon previously working in Belgium, Interventional Cardiologist from Ethiopia, Nephrologist from Ethiopia, and a Pediatric Surgeon from Congo. The Chief Executive said that the recruitment process was ongoing and they remain open to working with specialists from Rwanda, Africa and across the world. The hospital is working closely with the University of Rwanda to set up a training programme to set up a sustainable programme to increase availability of specialists across the country.
