Mulago, cancer institute fight over patients hostel

Kamapala. The managers of Mulago National Referral Hospital and Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) are locked in a dispute over the use of a house that Uganda Women’s Health Initiative built as hostel for female cancer patients.

News of the feud emerged when a senior health official, who asked not to be named to avoid straining relations at work, leaked information that Mulago Hospital administration had converted and was using half of the hostel as a laundry.

As a result, more cancer patients from distant places, who would otherwise reside there were spending cold nights on the verandah of the cancer wards, the source added.
Mulago Hospital has said cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy but are currently sleeping on verandahs and corridors can sleep in the hospital wards since their hostel was converted into a laundry.

Mulago’s view
The executive director of Mulago Hospital, Dr Byarugaba Baterana, told this newspaper on Monday that they were temporarily using the facility for laundry and as a central sterilisation unit because of the ongoing renovation works at the main hospital.

The reconstruction, which aims to modernise the facilities and turn Mulago into a super-specialised hospital, began in 2016 but has since stalled because, according to officials, previously unbudgeted components require an additional Shs24b.
The Finance ministry says they are evaluating the request, but have no immediate cash to disburse.

The hostel, located on Mulago hill and close to the hospital, serves as home for mainly patients of cervical and uterus cancer on radiotherapy treatment.
According to Dr Baterana, there is nothing wrong with Mulago Hospital changing the use of the hostel, because it was in the first place built to decongest the national referral hospital.

He said the facility will revert to full use as a hostel once the renovation is completed, although he provided no timeline.
“Mulago was congested and we had mooted a plan to decongest it; that is why we built Kiruddu, Kawempe and Naguru hospitals. The people who built that hostel wanted to decongest Mulago,” the executive director noted.

During commemoration of the International Child Cancer Day at UCI last Friday, officials, said continued stay of cancer patients on verandahs was traumatising and dehumanising and it could delay their recovery.

The chief executive officer of Hospice Uganda, Dr Eddie Mwebesa, said the hostel was donated specifically to house women from distant places seeking treatment at UCI to save them from travel costs.

“The hostel was built with a particular agenda of housing patients in a comfortable facility for the healing of mind and body because the Uganda Cancer Institute was overwhelmed by the number of patients,” he said.

Most of the patients accommodated at the boarding house are those whose treatment is sponsored by Hospice Uganda.
Our Reporter on Sunday observed eleven of them crammed in two rooms, with others squeezed under beds.

UCI Spokesperson Christine Namulindwa said they are working with private cancer hostels to refer the patients that cannot find accommodation within.
“There is also a plan to build tailored UCI hostel for the cancer patients,” she said.

Meantime. The cancer patients, Dr Baterana says, can in the meantime get accommodation at the nearby specialist Women’s Hospital or at Kawempe, Kiruddu and Naguru satellite hospitals.“They do not necessarily have to stay in the hostel,” he said.

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