{"id":105062,"date":"2025-07-09T19:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support"},"modified":"2025-07-09T20:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T20:37:32","slug":"unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support","title":{"rendered":"Unpaid Medical Bills Prompt Rethink on Patient Support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Rwanda is exploring the creation of a special insurance scheme to cover unpaid hospital bills for vulnerable patients, following a sharp rise in medical defaults that reached Rwf1.7 billion by June 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal, still under review by the Ministry of Health, was revealed during a parliamentary session on July 8, where officials acknowledged the growing financial strain on public hospitals caused by patients unable to pay for emergency treatment.<\/p>\n<p>The idea was noted by Zachee Iyakaremye, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, on July 8, as officials from Muhima District Hospital appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in parliament over concerns highlighted in the report by the Auditor General of State Finances for the year ended June 30, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The report, which covered 31 public hospitals, highlighted that 19 of them carried over unpaid medical bills related to needy patients. Seven hospitals wrote off debts totalling Rwf929 million from their books. These losses, the report noted, deprived medical facilities of essential resources required for their day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n<p>The data shows a sharp increase in unpaid medical bills from Rwf608 million in 2019 to over Rwf1.1 billion in 2021, and Rwf1.7 billion in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recommended Ministry of Health to develop guidelines on identification of social cases\/indigent patients and how the related cost for medical services should be covered,\u201d the Auditor General advised.<\/p>\n<p>Iyakaremye acknowledged the financial pressure on public hospitals and said that the ministry is considering having a long-term solution through insurance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe initially proposed to have a dedicated fund to settle these bills, but after further analysis, it became clear that such a fund would not sustainably address the issue and might even create new problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are now considering an insurance mechanism, either taken by the government or the hospitals, so that in cases involving such patients, insurance would step in. This would help protect hospitals from incurring repeated losses,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Technical teams in the ministry are currently studying how similar schemes operate in other countries, with a view to linking the model to existing insurance frameworks in Rwanda, according to Iyakaremye.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe scheme has not yet been piloted, but we are working towards a more sustainable approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>At Muhima District Hospital, where unpaid bills rose from Rwf194 million to Rwf201 million in just one year, the hospital\u2019s Director General, Dr Steven Mugisha, shed light on the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany patients arrive in emergencies, and we treat them immediately. But later, they disclose that they are unable to settle the bills. In such cases, we sign payment agreements with them and collect contact details for follow-up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he noted that recovery efforts often face major obstacles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome patients give false information, while others are honest but simply lack the means. We have reported these cases to the City of Kigali and the Ministry of Health. In some instances, we have been advised to reach out to districts based on the patient\u2019s address.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mugisha added that among all the districts contacted, only Huye responded, though they claimed not to know the whereabouts of the patients in question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe rest didn\u2019t reply at all. Meanwhile, the problem keeps growing, affecting other hospital operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martine Urujeni, the Vice Mayor in Charge of Socio-Economic Affairs in the City of Kigali, acknowledged the issue, noting that identification challenges remain a key hurdle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose who are officially categorised as poor are supported through the city\u2019s social programmes,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also support people referred from police stations, mental health facilities, and pre-rehabilitation centres. But the real difficulty comes when patients are not properly identified or documented.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. Rwanda is exploring the creation of a special insurance scheme to cover unpaid hospital bills for vulnerable patients, following a sharp rise in medical defaults that reached Rwf1.7 billion by June 2023. The proposal, still under review by the Ministry of Health, was revealed during a parliamentary session on July 8, where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":105061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[3830,3492,758],"class_list":["post-105062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-ministry-of-health","tag-pac","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unpaid Medical Bills Prompt Rethink on Patient Support - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rwanda is exploring the creation of a special insurance scheme to cover unpaid hospital bills for vulnerable patients, f ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unpaid Medical Bills Prompt Rethink on Patient Support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rwanda is exploring the creation of a special insurance scheme to cover unpaid hospital bills for vulnerable patients, f ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-09T19:19:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-09T20:37:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1752080685.248305.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Unpaid Medical Bills Prompt Rethink on Patient Support\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-09T19:19:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T20:37:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1752080685.248305.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ministry of Health\",\"PAC\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/unpaid-medical-bills-prompt-rethink-on-patient-support\",\"name\":\"Unpaid Medical Bills Prompt Rethink on Patient Support - 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