150 patients to be received in newly built center at Kamenge Military Hospital

One hundred and fifty beds for patients are now available in the new building of three floors at Kamenge Military Hospital, in the capital Bujumbura. The new center for women and children will house pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology and neonatology departments.

The new building for women and children at Kamenge Military Hospital

Dr. Marc Nimburanira, Director of the hospital, says the center has been built because the number of patients that the hospital received was increasing enormously. “We had only 25 beds for children and 30 others for women who come to give birth at this hospital”, he says. The director also says the hospital in collaboration with employees has come up with the plan to construct a new building of three floors.

Patients welcome the construction of the new center. “It’s an added value for pregnant women coming to give birth at this hospital,” says a mother met at the new building. She also says no woman was allowed to spend a night at the hospital after a normal delivery. “We only received treatment and were obliged to go home while others slept outside due to the lack of beds”, she says.

She also says a woman who has just given birth has to spend a night at the hospital while women giving birth by caesarean section have to spend five days at the hospital. “We really need sufficient time for treatment,” she says.
Dr. Marc Nimburanira says treatment fees remain the same. “Nothing has changed. Both pregnant women and children under five are still treated free,” he says.

With the 2018-2020 strategic plan, he says the hospital intends to extend the surgery department to receive Burundian troops injured in peacekeeping mission in Somalia and Central African Republic. “We plan to transform one of our blocks into a specialized emergency and intensive care unit and medical imaging in order to have a scanner and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). With the support of the government, we plan to launch the project”, he says.

President Pierre Nkurunziza, who inaugurated the new center for women and children, urges other directors of hospitals to draw inspiration from the Kamenge Military Hospital to respond to patients’ needs.