Monday 2 September 2019 - President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame inaugurate the Adventist School of Medicine of East-Central Africa  (ASOME) at the Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA).

The inaugurated facilities at AUCA Masoro Campus consist of classrooms, laboratories, offices, a guest house for visiting lecturers, student hostels, laboratories, and the student life Center. The ASOME is one of several achievements of the Adventist church. 

The school is a result of the request by the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Education in 2013 to AUCA to establish a faculty of health Sciences, giving priority to the School of medicine and other medical sciences. It comes at the time the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Rwanda is celebrating 100 years of its presence in the country. 

President Kagame commended the productive partnership contributing to Rwanda’s socio-economic development with a particular focus on the Health Sector;

"The achievement we are celebrating today is in tune with Rwanda’s goals. Education, particularly in science and technology, as well as good affordable healthcare, are the foundation of the well-being and prosperity of our citizens."

The University Teaching hospital at The Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA) will be part of a network of Adventist schools of medicine, health experts and hospitals worldwide, among them the renown Kettering Health Network.

Facts & Figures

• The first batch of the 6.4 years program is expected to start in January 2020 with 55 students;  
• ASOME graduates will be awarded the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with Honors
• Rwanda is the 7th country in the world and 2nd in Africa to have an Adventist medical school (after Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, and the USA) 
• ASOME will serve 11 countries under the East-Central Africa Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, DRC, Uganda South Soudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia)

Click on the link below to view and download video and photos of the ASOME inauguration in Masoro;

Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/paulkagame/albums/72157710655371608
Video: www.youtube.com/watch