Responsibilities
The Director General’s Office is responsible for the overall coordination, leadership, and representation of the hospital. The Director General is granted specific administrative and managerial powers to ensure efficient hospital operations.
These delegated responsibilities include staff transfers and promotions, management of disciplinary procedures (excluding second-category sanctions), approval of leave and resignations (excluding medical doctors), issuance of employment-related certificates, approval of retirement processes, nomination of department heads, upgrading of medical doctors as per professional councils, and signing contracts for eligible clinical staff.
Dr Rwagatare Patrick
Director General
Dr. Patrick RWAGATARE is a clinical psychologist and the General Director of Huye Isange Rehabilitation Center (HIRC), Rwanda’s first specialized mental health and addiction treatment center. HIRC plays a pioneering role in addressing substance use disorders and related mental health challenges in the country.
He holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Since 2004, Dr. RWAGATARE has been actively involved in providing clinical interventions for individuals affected by trauma, with a particular focus on supporting communities during Rwanda’s genocide commemoration periods.
He also serves as a guest lecturer (chargé de cours invité) at the University of Rwanda, within the postgraduate Psychiatry program at the School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Dr. RWAGATARE’s research interests include the development and evaluation of treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), particularly related to sexual violence, as well as depression, substance abuse, global mental health, maternal and child health, behavior change, and community-based interventions.
He has contributed to major national and international research initiatives, including the Rwanda National Mental Health Survey (2018), funded by the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Health and Johnson & Johnson. He also participated in research on community-based interventions for perinatal depression in Rwanda, supported by Grand Challenge Canada.
In addition, he has provided consultancy services to various national and international institutions, including the Ministry of Health, Rwanda Biomedical Center, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and several NGOs such as Avocats sans frontières, the National Service of Gacaca, IBUKA, AVEGA-AGAHOZO, and HAGURUKA ASBL, focusing on the promotion and protection of rights for women and children.