Kibogora Hospital

 Kibogora is located about 4 ½ hours by car from the capital city of Kigali and is in the southwest corner of Rwanda, next to Lake Kivu and overlooking the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The work here was begun as a dispensary in 1942 by Reverend Frank Adamson, a missionary of the Free Methodist Church. Later, under Dr. Al Snyder (from our hometown, Grand Rapids!), services were added and it is now a hospital of over 400 beds with departments including surgery, maternity/obstetrics, pediatrics/neonatology, emergency, internal medicine, physical therapy, palliative care, and dentistry.  Kibogora is a Level 2 Teaching Hospital which allows it to support visiting resident doctors, and it is a referral hospital for 12 surrounding health centers.

Our guesthouse is only a 5 minute walk to the hospital, down a very steep hill. At the gate, a guard greets us and offers us disinfectant hand sanitizer. Susie heads straight ahead to the far end of the courtyard to the Emergency Department while Dave turns right at the gate and descends down another hill to the internal medicine wards.

We are happy to be working with some excellent medical interns who are recent graduates from a new Rwanda medical school, the University of Global Health Equity. Their fund of knowledge and critical thinking skills are quite impressive!

The hospital uses a basic electronic medical record that is actually helpful though a slow internet connection is sometimes an impediment!! We can access patient data on computers at the nursing stations, on our phones, or on handheld tablet notebooks that we can carry on ward rounds. 

To the left is the view from the hospital gate. In the distance is the emergency room, seen below.

Susie is working in the ER with Dr. Pacifique who is one of the excellent Rwandan interns and nurse Shannon, who is visiting from North Carolina!

Dr. Pacifique sharing his stethoscope with Naomi, a delightful 12 year old girl who was sent in all by herself from her boarding school for gastrointestinal complaints. Her exam and tests were benign and she was sent home on several meds. She was articulate, spoke perfect English, and said that she wanted to be doctor!

 Here is a view of one of the internal medicine wards. Each of the male and female wards has several rows of beds - not much privacy but there are moveable curtain partitions that can be brought in when detailed exams are done. Note the mosquito nets hanging over the beds!

Dave is working with Dr. Cesar, another one of the  Rwandan interns who is reviewing a chart at the bedside with 3 nursing students and the ward nurse looking on.

Below is Susie with Dr. Stella, one of the longterm GPs who will soon be leaving to do additional training.