I am Rukundo Alexis and I have lived with kidney diseases for almost a year now. Before the pandemic, I was a driver and that is how I used to supply my family. When the Pandemic hit Rwanda, I lost my job and that was the beginning of life struggle and miserable life that affected my health. 

During this COVID-19 Pandemic, it was difficult to reach the treatment centre since there was no public transport. “It was hard to travel, there were no transport means, it was hard to reach the pharmacy and sometimes you could get there and find that they don’t have the medicine you want”. There was also a shortage of medicine thus a change in their dosage and some of us were not able to afford the treatment costs.

As a person who lives with Kidney disease, I am required to do the dialysis at least 3 times a week. But because I cannot afford it, I do it twice a week. Food also became expensive and I was no longer able to afford my diet. My family has also been affected by this pandemic as they couldn’t get what they used to get. I am worried about my health because if the pandemic persists, we will run out of medicines which were supposed to help us and our lives will be in danger.

As we keep applying the preventive measures, we will win the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Life will be restored, medicine will be available and everything will go normal and every patient will be able to get proper treatment as wish.