As part of the activities to celebrate the International Nurses Day 2023, Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union joined Nurses and Midwives from Masaka Hospital to offer Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”) to over 500 underprevilleged patients that seek treatment at Masaka hospital without Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”) and can not meet their medical expenses .
Masaka Hospital alone registered a loss of over 450 million francs arising from patients seekig treatment without Mutuelle de sante, greatly affecting the hospital as it can not easily reprenish essential medicine, pay for PPEs and other medical equipment hence negatively impacting on service delivery.
At the event RNMU secretary General, Mr. Gerald Rulangwa thanked Nurses and Midwives for their commitment to serve Rwandan despite the difficult conditions they operate in. He
underlined RNMU’s commitment to continue supporting Nurses and Midwives through advocacy, social support and professional development.
Mr. Rurangwa encouraged Nurses and Midwives who are not yet members of RNMU to join the union, uplauded members for their contribution to the union through payment of their mothly contributions and participation in RNMU activities whenever called upon. He reminded nurses and midwives to always strive for excellence and promised continued support from RNMU to those that want to undertake further studies and carrying out professional research.
Nurses thanked RNMU for the support and advocacy especially during the Covid – 19 pandemic and the advocacy thet has seen government increase the number of staff at Masaka hospital.
In Rwanda, Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”) is a privileged channel for the growth of financial accessibility to health services mostly in both rural settings and in the informal sector. Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”) allows the most vulnerable and poorest segments of the population to be fully integrated into the health insurance system, thus guaranteeing participation of the whole community and avoiding any stigmatization.
Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”) is a mechanism which aims to limit the exclusion of the most destitute segments of the population from health services, Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”) plays a key role in building and strengthening the foundations for the concept of equity in access to various packages supplied by the health system.
According to the ministry of health, the growth of Community Health Insurance (”Mutuelle De Santé”), along with malaria and HIV programs, performance-based financing, community health and quality assurance program, has led to dramatic improvements in key health indicators: i) the assisted deliveries rate rose from 39% in 2000 to 52% in 2008; ii) the infant mortality rate declined from 139/1000 in 2005 to 62/1000 in 2008; the under five mortality rate from 152/1000 in 2005 to 103/1000 in 2008.
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