In the fiscal year 2020-2021, the hospital recorded 74,363 patient consultations at Ndera and the two branches, up from 73,675 consultations in 2019, which is a 1% increase from the previous year.

• CARAES Ndera: 49,761 (67%)
• CARAES Butare: 16,121 (22%)
• Icyizere Psychotherapeutic Centre: 8,481 (11%)

The majority of patients who consulted the hospital came from City of Kigali (46%), followed by Southern Province (17%), Eastern Province (16%), Western Province (12%) and Northern Province (8%).

Males represent 52% of the total patients and females take 48% (35,410), while the majority of the patients were between 20 and 39 years of age, with this age group representing 41% of all patients.

Schizophrenia takes 37% of all outpatient conditions, followed by epilepsy (14%).

The most prevalent pathologies in psychiatry were schizophrenia with 54.64%, and acute psychotic disorders with 12.40%.

1. Schizophrenia (54.64%)

2. Acute and transient psychotic disorder (12.39%)

3. Bipolar disorder (10.95%)

4. Somatoforms (9.28%)

5. Depression disorder (3.47%)

The predominant pathology in neurology is epilepsy, with 61.04% of the outpatients with neurological disorders.

1. Epilepsy (61.04%)

2. Headaches syndrome (22.68%)

3. Migraine (8.20%)

4. Parkinson disease (5.25%)

The total number of hospitalized patients in 2020-2021 was 4,639; 77% of them being at CARAES Ndera, 16% at CARAES Butare and 7% at Icyizere Psychotherapeutic Center.

The following are top five causes of patient hospitalization in the psychiatry department:

1. Schizophrenia (39.88%)

2. Acute and transient psychotic disorders (23.46%)

3. Bipolar disorders (12.08%)

4. Mental and behavioral disorders due to other psychoactive substances (4.34%)

5. Other psychotic disorders (3.65%)

In the neurology department, the following are top five causes of hospitalization:

1. Epilepsy (69.50%)

2. Other disorders of the nervous system (8.24%)

3. Other headache syndromes (6.04%)

4. Polyneuropathies and other disorders of the peripheral nervous system (3.57%)

5. Parkinson disease (2.75%)

Being a unique hospital specialized in neurology and psychiatry in Rwanda, Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital CARAES Ndera has a strong collaboration with academic institutions in providing education to students from different universities and higher learning institutions.

We received 407 interns in the entire fiscal year 2020-2021. The University of Rwanda ranks first among the universities that sent students for clinical practice.

1. University of Rwanda (44%)
2. Mount Kenya University (31%)
3. Kibogora Polytechnic (12%)
4. AUCA (7%)

Other activities carried out during the year 2020-2021 include community outreach and mentorship programmes, which involved the hospital staff’s contribution in capacity building for health care professionals at district hospitals level to boost mental health care. Thirty district hospitals were reached through this programme.