Hospital Managers want LDP+ scaled up in all Health Facilities in Rwanda
Hospital Managers requested the Ministry of Health and its partners to roll out at other facilities the program called LDP+ in order to improve health service delivery
Hospital Managers from Kibagabaga and Masaka District Hospitals have requested the Rwandan Ministry of Health and its partners to roll out at other facilities the program called LDP+ (Leadership Development Program Plus) in order to improve health service delivery, TOPAFRICANEWS reports.
The request was made on Friday 23rd November 2018 at the LDP+ workshop convened to celebrate the results of the first cohort of the 6 months Leadership Development Program plus training for Masaka and Kibagabaga hospital teams.
LDP+ is a program where Health workers are trained to improve the service delivery in the hospital while at the same time working as a Team in order to ensure quality of services to the patients.
The program was developed by MSH (Management Sciences for Health) which is a global nonprofit organization that partners with governments, civil society, the private sector, and health care workers to build resilient and sustainable health systems around the world.
Speaking to TOPAFRICANEWS, Pierre Dongier, the Principal Technical Adviser for Leadership and Governance in the Rwanda Health Systems Strengthening Project (RHSSP) implemented by MSH revealed that “LDP+ program is being implemented in many countries including Rwanda which is benefiting from it for the first time.”
“It covers subjects which include identifying the key challenges in the hospital, how to work on the identified problems, developing an action plan to address those problems and then make a follow up to reach measurable results based on improved health services indicators.” He added.
Scale up the LDP+ to other Hospitals
In Rwanda, this program was introduced in two District Hospitals namely Kibagabaga District Hospital which is located in Gasabo District and Masaka District Hospital of Kicukiro District.
As highlighted by the beneficiaries, its outcomes were good therefore it is better to scale up the program to other District Hospitals and even to Health centres.
Dr. Uwizeye Marcelle Director General at Masaka District Hospital said “Whenever we are doing our action plans or strategic plans, most of time we don’t know really the problems we have.
“Now I am happy that even our staff they can know the problems that we are facing and they are able now to plan to overcome these problems.
“That’s why I am very sure this program will help us to improve the quality of our services.”
He encouraged other health facilities Managers to embrace the LDP+ because, he said, “I am very sure this program will help all of us in our health facilities.”
“I would like to request the Ministry of Health and all stakeholders please help us for this LDP+ to be in all our health facilities because it is very important for the services we offer to our population.” Uwizeye said.
The same call was made by Dr. Avit Mutaganzwa the Director General at Kibagabaga District Hospital who also expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Health for having chosen Kibagabaga Hospital to participate in the LDP+ training.
He said the training has responded to the fundamental needs of the hospital because it has enabled them to solve key challenges that were impinging the quality of Health services delivery at Kibagaba Hospital.
Need for intervention for some challenges
Even if the program has brought some solutions to the problems like poor communication, services and teamwork spirit in the hospitals, there are still some key challenges that are still hindering the quality of services in the hospitals not only at Kibagabaga and Masaka but also in other Health facilities around the country.
Among them there are employees turn-over, challenges of maintaining with trained staff due to labor mobility and lack of qualified staff for some departments.
However, Edouard Kamuhangire who was representing the Ministry of Health at the event assured that the Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of finance and the Ministry of labor to address those challenges.
Kamuhangire also promised that the LDP+ program will be scaled up to other health facilities, but, he explained “We are starting with these two hospitals and let me tell you that in few days we will also train other hospitals already identified and later we will continue with the remaining.”
“Quality is a journey not a destination. The Ministry of Health has introduced different strategies to deliver quality health services for our population including Performance Based Financing, accreditation & CBHI etc. LDP+ is another step at improving service delivery,”Kamuhangire added.
The six month training tackled issues related to customer services, Laboratory services, Maternity and Post natal care services.
Dr. Alain Joyal, the MSH/RHSSP project Director commended teams of health professionals for their dedication to the program citing that the project Management will continue to provide the support where it’s needed in order to improve health service delivery in Rwanda.
