Rwanda Pushes to Fully Digitise Public Healthcare with e-Ubuzima

Beulah Godfrey

April 24, 2025
3 min read

Rwanda’s government plans to stop using paper medical records in all public hospitals and health centers by December 2025. To make this happen, the Ministry of Health is speeding up the rollout of a homegrown digital platform called e-Ubuzima.

This system will connect patient records across all public health facilities. It will let doctors and patients access medical information instantly. Officials say this move will help cut down patient waiting time, reduce hospital crowding, and make prescriptions more accurate.

What e-Ubuzima Can Do

Muhammed Semakula, Head of Planning and Monitoring at the Ministry of Health, told The New Times Rwanda that the app lets users find hospitals, choose doctors, and book appointments. Once a patient picks a doctor, the system alerts the hospital. The doctor can then see the appointment on their calendar.

Right now, 15 districts in Rwanda are already using the system. The e-Ubuzima app also helps patients move easily through Rwanda’s growing health network. The network includes over 60 hospitals, more than 500 health centers, and thousands of local health posts.

Rwanda has about 14 million people and a strong public healthcare system that covers most of the population through community-based health insurance. However, challenges remain. Some areas still lack proper care for long-term illnesses and quick access to health data.

The government wants to use e-Ubuzima to fix those gaps. Semakula said the app will also help share reliable information during disease outbreaks or emergencies.

To launch e-Ubuzima across the country, the government must equip all 520 health centers with at least 25 computers and stable internet. Semakula admitted this is a big task.

Another challenge is teaching older healthcare workers how to use digital tools. Many of them aren’t used to working with computers. So, the government plans to offer regular training.

The digital health plan doesn’t stop with e-Ubuzima. Rwanda will also launch a virtual hospital that lets patients talk to doctors from their homes using video calls. This hospital will operate from the capital city, Kigali.

By June, the government also hopes to give smartphones and Wi-Fi access to health workers in remote areas. These tools will help workers collect and share patient data faster.

Rwanda wants to become a tech-driven leader in healthcare. If the country can fix its internet and training issues, e-Ubuzima could become a model for other African countries. A successful rollout would improve healthcare access and make medical services faster and more efficient across the continent.