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By Annonciata Byukusenge
For years, people in Nyaruguru District made a familiar, exhausting journey, hours on the road to Huye, reaching medical care their own district could not offer. Today, many of them say that the journey belongs to the past.
The catalyst is Shammah, a newly established private clinic that has quietly become a lifeline for patients who once had nowhere to turn locally, people suffering from physiotherapy, skin conditions, neurological problems, dental disease, and other illnesses that demanded a specialist’s hand.
Marie Goretty Urayeneza, a mother of about sixty years from Nyange Cell in Kibeho Sector, knows that story well. Speaking during the Umujyanama n’Umufatanyabikorwa Community Week, which opened this Monday in the Kibeho sector, she recounted how a persistent skin condition once pushed her to the edge of hopelessness.
“The disease was destroying me, but I had no way to get to Huye. Everyone I knew who went had to spend the night, and with the little money I had, that was simply out of the question. So, I gave up going.”
Munini District Hospital had tried to help her, she said, but the specialist care she needed was not available there. She was transferred to Huye at CHUB hospital, and that referral became a wall she could not climb.
Then Shammah opened its doors nearby.
“They treated my skin condition, and I am healed. Her voice carried honest surprise. “Munini couldn’t do it, not because they didn’t try, but because they didn’t have this service. I thank President Paul Kagame deeply for bringing infrastructure close to us and for bringing in specialists who give us quality care.”
Béatha Mukarushema came to Shammah on the opening day of the Community Week to have her child examined. She described what health-seeking once looked like in this area and what it cost families who could least afford it.
“Before, if your condition was serious, you were transferred to the University Teaching Hospital (CHUB) in Huye, and when you got there, you found patients from all over the Southern Province who had arrived before you. You had to find accommodation, pay for food around, and wait, sometimes for days, before you could even see a specialist. The costs were loaded up before any treatment had begun.”
That morning, she said, she had walked in, her child had been examined within minutes, tests had been run, and she was simply waiting for results.
The difference was not lost on her.
“It’s completely different from before, when a trip to the health post would consume an entire day, and even then, the service could be poor.”
Dr. Emmanuel Murwanashaka, the Mayor of Nyaruguru District, emphasized the clinic within a broader picture of progress his district has been building.
“We are proud of what has been achieved here. Shammah is one of those achievements, and residents themselves are telling what it means to them. They no longer have to travel to Huye for services that Munini couldn’t provide. That problem has been resolved.”
Nyaruguru District currently operates 16 health centers, 44 health posts, Munini District Hospital, and one private clinic, Shammah.
