I left my family to be hospitalized in Gisenyi Hospital 6 months ago. Was it the problem of the severity of the diseases? No way! Rather the lack of hospital with special treatment of kidney diseases in Musanze district and elsewhere nearby the district.

Within the period of COVID-19, the gaps in different health systems have been revealed as the lack of the capacity to cope with the problem. People living with non-communicable diseases are most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, their special care was the point to reduce the morbidity and mortality rate associated with COVID-19.

The lack of hospital with kidney special treatment in Musanze district caused me to be displaced and went to live at the hospital. We only have 5 hospitals countrywide with kidney disease special treatment among them 4 situated in Kigali city.

The hospitalization was not because of the severe illness but rather the high cost of travel tickets from Musanze to Rubavu. For instance, it did cost me  13,500 RWF of transport every time I went for dialysis before COVID-19 while in the period of COVID-19,  it increased up to 24,000 RWF. A burden to a teacher like me with an insufficient salary.

I was wondering how I was going to get 24,000 RWF per week for travel and additional treatment fees while I wasn’t able to get 13,500 RWF. Additionally, people who were supporting me stopped due to COVID-19. I thought my life reached its end. So, I decided to leave my home and be hospitalized without anything at least to be near the dialysis machine.

There are limited Kidney disease treatment centres in Rwanda. These are Gisenyi Hospital, CHUK, Kanombe Military hospital, King Faisal, and African Health Network Hospital in Kigali. Wherever a patient is located in the country has to reach one of those treatment centres in Gisenyi or Kigali city.

There is no district hospital with special treatment of kidney disease except Gisenyi hospital which is supported by a team of Indians in treating kidney diseases.

We are suggesting to the Ministry of Health the provision of dialysis machines; at least 2 dialysis machines in district hospitals to ease the accessibility to the treatment of kidney diseases. We can’t limit ourselves to dialysis as our country is developing. I would also suggest performing transplantation so that people won’t necessarily travel to India.