Following the union meetings, doctors adopted a unified position: to ensure fairness and enable the recovery of the healthcare system, all doctors must be treated equally, whether they work in the public sector or in private medical facilities.
A clear set of demands was adopted. It includes:
a net monthly salary of 2,000,000 Burundian francs (FBu),
a working schedule of eight hours per day, equivalent to forty hours per week,
a fixed allowance of 50,000 FBu per on-call duty, whether during the day or at night.
On this basis, the union leadership instructed doctors working in private clinics to formally notify their employers, requesting that this pay scale be implemented as of 1 December 2024. Failing compliance, a work suspension was envisaged.
The majority of the private medical facilities concerned responded positively and proceeded with the required salary adjustments.
According to information gathered by King Umurundi Freedom, the facilities that implemented these measures include, among others: KIRA Hospital, POLYCEB, Clinique Saint-Joseph (Bujumbura), Clinique Césaire, Polyclinique Ruhondogori, Nouvelle Polyclinique (formerly the Central Polyclinic of Bujumbura), RANA Neurological, Giramahoro Medical Center, Heart Center, Polyclinique Médicale de Kinama, as well as other institutions.
In all these facilities, doctors were duly paid for the month of December 2024, in accordance with the commitments made.
However, some clinics refused to apply the union’s decisions. According to our findings, this refusal constitutes one of the key triggers behind the wave of intimidation and arrests targeting doctors. Among these facilities are Polyclinique BAHO and SOLIS.
Polyclinique BAHO, located in Kajaga, holds the status of a national hospital despite being privately owned. It is legally represented by businessman Adrien NDIKUMWENAYO, the main shareholder, while the medical director is Béatrice NKURUNZIZA.
According to information in the possession of King Umurundi Freedom, these two individuals are allegedly involved in actions that led to the arrest of doctors, in coordination with Burundian intelligence services.
A critical question remains: are State authorities—particularly the Ministry of Health—aware of the situation faced by these doctors, or have they allowed it to unfold without intervention? In either case, the prevailing silence raises serious concerns.
At both Polyclinique BAHO and SOLIS, three doctors were employed in each facility. All of them submitted formal letters to their employers requesting the implementation of the union’s decisions. The responses received were limited to vague assurances that the matter was “under review,” without any concrete follow-up.
In the absence of a response, the doctors formally notified their intention to suspend work. Once again, the employers remained silent. As a result, the doctors ceased all activities as of January 2025.
Since then, these facilities have been operating for more than three weeks without any doctors on duty.
Attempts to recruit replacement doctors were met with strong and deliberate solidarity within the medical community, with no doctor willing to replace colleagues until their rights were fully restored.
It was in this context that discussions intensified within the doctors’ union WhatsApp group, focusing on the defense of professional rights, union solidarity, and strategies aimed at achieving lasting reforms.
According to our information, doctors close to the authorities allegedly relayed the content of these discussions to intelligence services. Those arrested so far are precisely the doctors who expressed themselves most clearly and firmly within the group. They are now accused of having “incited” or “mobilized” their colleagues.
When did this campaign of intimidation truly begin?
Who are the doctors who have been arrested?
Where are they being detained?
These questions will be addressed in the third and final part of this investigation conducted by King Umurundi Freedom.
👉 The first part is available here:Wave of Arrests of Doctors in Burundi: Growing Concern – KUF-ASBL