Six key equipment at UCI non-functional
Left to right: Uganda Cancer Institute Executive Director, Dr Jackson Orem; Senior Accountant Patrick Omojong, and UCI head of research Nixon Niyonzima before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee at Parliament on May 15, 2024. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- They include an ultrasound machine, endoscope machine, hawk taw and the film printer.
Legislators have questioned the top management of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) after an audit discovered that six key equipment were non-functional, affecting service delivery.
In the audit report for Financial Year 2022/2023, Auditor General (AG) John Muwanga noted that “key medical equipment broke down and remained unrepaired by the time of audit.”
These include an ultrasound machine, endoscope machine, hawk taw and the film printer, which is a “radiology equipment that has not been used since 2020 due to lack of films used in the printer type.”
The other one was the laparoscopy taw machine, theatre equipment “procured in 2017 for use in the theatre [but] has never been used due to a missing compatible carbon dioxide component.”
Uninstalled equipment
Still in the report to Parliament, “although UCI spent Shs11.8b on purchase of various equipment, some of it was not installed, denying patients access to services.”
As a result, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – Central, asked the leaders of the institute, who were appearing before them, to record statements with the police detailing the state of medical equipment at the facility.
The leaders, who were queried by MPs on the audit findings, include the institute executive director, Dr Jackson Orem, the head of administration, Mr Richard Tumwesigye, and the head of clinical services, Mr Israel Luutu.
In their defence, the management informed the committee that the institute lacked sufficient funds to procure spare parts for some of the equipment and effect repairs.
In his report, Mr Muwanga recommended that “the accounting officer lobbies the Ministry of Finance to enhance the institution’s maintenance budget to ensure the equipment is properly serviced and maintained.”
This comes amid reports of congestion and long waiting time at the facility as the increase in number of patients outstrips the institute’s capacity to handle them.
In an interview with Monitor, Mr Nixon Niyonzima, the head of research and training at UCI, said most repairs have since been carried out and key changes made on the equipment.
“We now have nine radiotherapies at the institute because of our deliberate effort to improve equipment at UCI. Similarly, in the surgical department where some of those equipment are, we have made significant strides and they have since been repaired,” Mr Niyonzima said.
He added: “The institute has moved away from printing films to digital and all the images are saved digitally. The images are sent to the clinicians. We no longer send physical films to the clinicians.”
Private wing woes
Meanwhile, UCI managers also defended the need to sustain the private wing of the institute to boost financial inflow for the entity providing cancer treatment.
This was after the committee chaired by Mr Muwanga Kivumbi proposed that the private wing of UCI be phased out because of the low Non-Tax Revenue generated by the facility.
The committee was inquiring into the institute’s performance on areas that include low collections in Non-Tax Revenue.
The report noted that the institute hoped to collect Shs4.5b during the year but managed to collect only Shs3.37b.
To this end, Mr Kivumbi suggested that the private wing of the facility meant to contribute heavily to the realisation of the planned revenue, be phased out so that all patients can access free services.
In defence, Dr Orem reasoned argued that the private wing not only boosts the facility’s ability to generate revenue but also encourages uptake of treatment services.
“All cancer patients are equal and despite the fact that we have a few people who want exclusive services, we still subsidise them, so the only thing they are getting in private wing is space that has ambiance,” he said.
Besides offering treatment services to cancer patients, Dr Orem said the institute is meant to take lead in research and treatment of cancer in East Africa, but this initiative is frustrated by inadequate funding.
About UCI
Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) is a public, specialized, tertiary care medical facility owned by the Uganda Ministry of Health. It is designated as East Africa’s Centre of Excellence in Oncology. Located on Upper Mulago Hill Road, on Mulago Hill, in the Kawempe Division of Kampala, the facility is a
cancer treatment, research, and teaching centre, affiliated with the Makerere University School of Medicine and with the Mulago National Referral Hospital, the teaching hospital for the medical school.
