Rema Hospital

The Rema Hospital (Hôpital Rema) is a hospital in the town of Ruyigi in the northwest of Ruyigi Province, Burundi. It was founded in 2008, and once was flourishing, but by 2017 it had fallen into disrepair.

Location
The Rema Hospital is in the Ruyigi health district, as are the nearby Ruyigi Hospital in the settlement of Ruyigi and the faith-based Cimpaye Hospital to the east. It is on the RN13 national highway just east of the town of Ruyigi.

Service
The Rema Hospital serves the Ruyigi health district, and also receives patients from nearby provinces. The Ministry of Health reports that the status is public but does not give the target area population or quality of service metrics.

History
A center for mother and child care was built in 2007 by the Belgian and Burundian armies on land near Ruyigi owned by the family of Maggy Barankitse. The hospital was developed on the same site. The embassies of France, Germany and Luxembourg, the UNHCR and the Jean-François Peterbroeck Foundation provided support.

Rema Hospital was founded by Maison Shalom, which manages it, and inaugurated on 22 January 2008. In the Kirundi language Rema means providing comfort to a person who is experiencing difficulties. The hospital serves mothers and children, and tries to reduce the mortality rate of pregnant women. It includes a center for teaching about hygiene, nutrition, vaccines and birth control.

In October 2013 the Maison Shalom held a celebration of its 20th anniversity in the Rema Hospital grounds, attended by guests from the national government, UN organization representatives, ambassadors and other Europeans and Americans. Gervais Rufyikiri, Second Vice-president of Burundi, inaugurated the Maison Candice and Maison Nathan, a neonatology unit.

On 4 November 2015 the Attorney General of Burundi ordered that the accounts of Maison Shalom be frozen. The state took over the hospital. A 2017 report on its condition noted that there were now only ten patients. The incubators were no longer working, pipes were broken, lamps had not been replaced, the grass was not mowed and a police position was occupying the maternal and child protection center.