Charlotte Fernández
UKIMEA Press Office,Leeds
A ceremony attended by The Rwandan Ministry of Health and the Governor of the Rwanda Eastern Proviance has marked the opening of the Ntunga Maternity Centre.
The new facility will provide much needed check-ups, screenings, medical education, and childbirth support services to women living in Rwamagana, one of the biggest districts of the East Province of Rwanda.
The Arup team provided pro bono expertise as design consultants on the project, leading on the architecture, masterplanning and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineering. The firm worked alongside Engalynx, a UK based charity which funded the construction of the centre as well as the Government of Rwanda and on-site contractors, Econtec.
“Having been involved in the project from the very beginning – starting with the public consultation process where we ran a workshop with 300 villagers using pictograms and translators in a village barn – it is tremendously rewarding to see the centre officially open. Our intention has been to design a cost effective maternity hospital which could act as a prototype to be replicated in various parts of the country and provide vital maternity care.
Chintan Raveshia, Project Manager, Arup
Rwanda sits in a seismically active zone and the maternity centre is one of the first public buildings in the area which is structurally designed to withstand earthquakes and ground tremors. The team created an innovative design to make the building structurally sound without increasing construction cost. The building is also designed to provide sufficient natural ventilation, including natural daylight, while balancing the night time temperature changes for newborn babies.
The Centre is located along the main Kigali highway, and before the centre opened, the only maternity services were located at the main hospital, over 40 kms away.
“Expectant mothers have been traveling by bicycle during labour and sometimes not reaching the hospital in time. Unsurprisingly, women weren’t using antenatal services as the hospital was too far away, and as a result, many complications went undiagnosed leading to complications and avoidable loss of life. This centre will bring vital maternity care to their doorstep and provide much needed facilities to local women.
Clare Bristow, Project Director, Arup
The maternity unit is intended as the first phase in a larger project and it is hoped that laboratories, a prenatal check-up centre and a medical shop will subsequently be completed.
“It is a unique building with lots of intelligent innovations. We hope to use these ideas in the future and use this design as a prototype.
Rwanda Ministry of Health