Rwanda, a country of resilience and grace
Dr. Hanan Kerr worked in Rwanda for the first time in 2016 with a team of volunteers from leading medical centers known as Team Heart. The mission of the Team Heart is to screen and treat patients with suspected heart disease. After the screening process, surgery was performed on a select lucky individuals who otherwise had no access to cardiac surgery. Team Heart only had the resources to treat a small number of the many in need. She quickly recognized the lack of local cardiac care, and knew she had to return to learn more about this African nation.
Dr. Kerr retuned to Rwanda and worked side by side with Rwandan physicians, fully experienced their culture, and learned about the strengths and weaknesses of the health care system. She met with leadership at the University of Rwanda College of Medicine, Rwanda Military Hospital, Rwandan Ministry of Health, University of Kigali Teaching Hospital. Their collective message was the presence of a strong need for a cardiology training program for their Rwandan physicians. Currently, Rwandan physicians must leave their country to receive subspecialty training in cardiovascular disease. This requires an enormous financial resource, and not a sustainable means to train Rwandan physicians.
2020 marks the beginning of the UC Rwanda Initiative, and Dr. Kerr, and cardiology colleagues planned to travel to Kigali, Rwanda to provide a 4-month block of serial two-week cardiology rotations at the University of Kigali Teaching Hospital. The plan is to provide lectures, bed side rounds and training in cardiac ultrasound to the physicians and medical students. The hope was to partner with other US academic cardiology institutions to provide a complete cardiology fellowship training program in Kigali. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan has been postponed for the following year. The team was very disappointed, but are currently growing the remote teaching platform involving all the Internal medicine residents in the Rwanda, working at the 4 major referral hospitals.
Rwanda is still known as a country that made headlines during the genocide of 1994. A million Rwandans perished and 2 million refugees fled to other African countries, resulting in a massive humanitarian crisis. Dr. Kerr has recognized the scars from the genocide, but the resilience, grace and hard work of the Rwandans is evident, with an emphasis on safety and security throughout this beautiful mountainous country in central Africa.
