© CBM/Hayduk

Kabgayi Hospital: Ophthalmology for all of Rwanda and beyond

Kabgayi Hospital in Gitarama is located in the heart of Rwanda on the main road between Kigali and Butare. There, CBM supports the clinic's eye department. It offers a wide range of treatments for adults and children.

The most important eye clinic in the country

© CBM / argum / Thomas Einberger
Patients patiently wait for their treatment in the well-filled outpatient clinic of the eye department.

Tens of thousands of people receive help from the CBM-funded project in Gitarama every year – either through mobile eye services or through treatment directly in the eye department at Kabgayi Hospital. Patients from all over Rwanda, Burundi and eastern Congo come to the clinic of our project partner, who belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Kabgayi.

Accordingly, everyday hospital life looks turbulent. Whether it's a simple prescription for glasses, cataract surgery, glaucoma treatment or an eye tumor – the team in the eye department covers a wide range of eye diseases and their treatment.

Almost 80 percent of all eye surgeries in Rwanda are performed here, about a third of them for cataracts. The clinic is simple but modern and equipped to a high technical level and has several operating and treatment rooms.

Key project for modern ophthalmology

© CBM/Hayduk
The Kabgayi Hospital is the only place in Rwanda where children with cataracts are operated. And the only place far and wide where people with eye tumors can get competent help.

The Rwandan Ministry of Health has classified the clinic's eye department as a national referral clinic: all health stations and district hospitals refer their eye patients to Kabgayi. The eye department is thus considered a key project in achieving the goals of the national blindness prevention plan. Expertise and treatment options are bundled here and further professionalized.

For example, the Kabgayi Hospital is currently the only place in Rwanda where children can undergo cataract surgery. In addition, it is the only clinic far and wide where people with eye tumors are treated. Due to the great demand for retinal treatments, a corresponding department was also set up and ophthalmologists were trained in treatment.

Helping and educating through mobile services

In 2017, around 90 percent of the Rwandan population had health insurance: a positive development. And yet poor patients still have only a limited chance of treatment. They often lack the opportunity and financial means for transport to the clinic, and many do not even know about the treatment options. This is where the second important part of the project comes in: mobile work.

In the field for the poorest

With their field services, the clinic team reaches 15 of the country's 30 districts. This mobile work is intended to reach the most marginalized population groups in particular: particularly poor patients in remote villages, refugee camps and prisons. During the missions, the patients are examined, treated and, if necessary, taken to the hospital for surgery.

  • 46.585 Eye patients were reached by the project in 2019.

  • 7.326 Eye surgeries (including 3,749 cataract surgeries) were performed in 2019.

  • 1.837 Glasses were distributed in 2019.

Eye operations for thousands of people

© CBM/argum/Thomas Einberger
At Kabgayi Hospital, many eyesight is saved every day. The simple eye test proves that cataract surgery has been successful.

A lot has happened since the former CBM ophthalmologist Dr. Bakker built up the hospital's eye department in the early 1990s. But the project wants to achieve much more – and has set itself ambitious goals by 2021:

  • Construction of a separate children's ward
  • Establishment of the production of eye drops
  • New construction of the optics workshop
  • Establishment of an eye diagnostic center where all examinations can be carried out on site
  • Hiring a Counselor for Parents of Children with Eye Tumors

The clinic team plans to examine a total of 140,000 patients and perform 22,000 eye surgeries between 2017 and 2021, including 1,000 surgeries on children with cataracts.

Our global reach