Mbarara hospital scan machine fixed

The CT scan machine at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital that broke down four years ago has been repaired and patients can get the services without hustling.
CT scan is used to examine complications in head, chest, abdomen, limbs and spine. It was acquired in 2012 and broke down in 2014.
“The CT scan has not been functioning since November 2014. You cannot work on a patient with head injury without CT scan. It helps to establish the damage. It is very handy in working on patients with stroke. It is also used for detecting cardiac and chest related complications,” says Dr Celestine Barigye, the hospital executive director.

He adds: “We were outsourcing services from private hospitals. So they (patients) would go there and get the CT scan done and come back so that we manage them which is a bit an inappropriate way of doing things.’’
Repairing it cost Shs320 million. It was discovered that the machine was supplied with a fault.
The hospital sued the supplier, Meditech Systems Limited, and the Commercial Court Division in Kampala in 2016 ruled in the hospital favour.

The supplier paid Shs381 million as compensation. The CT scan was bought at about Shs2.69 billion from Siemens Germany, the manufacturer.
“We took them to court and we won the case. The machine has been repaired by (experts from Siemens Germany) and we are happy to tell everyone who has been inconvenienced by going to private facilities that this should mark the end of that kind of inconvenience,’’ says Dr Barigye.
However, he says the CT scan services will not be free since it is expensive to maintain the machine.

“The CT scan services are not free of charge. Part of the money charged is for buying films and contrast agent (dye used in the CT scan to differentiate between a disease and a normal body),” he says.
Dr Barigye the board of directors allowed the hospital to charge between Shs 200,000 and Shs300,000, which he says is fair compared to what private hospitals charge, and considering the cost of maintaining the machine.

Inconveniencing
Dr Moses Acan, a radiologist at the hospital, says it was inconveniencing to look for CT scan services outside the facility. There are only three machines of the kind owned by the government. Two are at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
“We are very happy to open our doors again to public for CT scan services. It has been down really for a very long time but with great effort from hospital administration and the government we have been able to put it back to working conditions,’’ says Dr Acan.
He adds that there were two main faults that affected the operations of the machine.

“The x-ray tube encountered a problem so it was not producing proper x-rays that would generate for us diagnostic images. The computer system for showing the images developed a problem because of power fluctuations; that is why basically the system could not work. The X-ray tube and the computer system is real an expensive component and that is why it took too long to repair it,” says Mr Acan.
Ms Pamella Musimenta, a resident of Karungu Sub-county, Buhweju District, who was nursing her child with head injury at Mbarara hospital last Thursday, however, said the charges for CT scan are still high and can’t be afforded by the common man.

Coverage
Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital serves population in the south-western Uganda. It receives patients from neigbouring Rwanda, DR Congo, Tanzania and Burundi.

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