Rotary starts sending children for heart surgery in India
Parents of children set to benefit from the Rotary Club of Muyenga initiative that the club members for the support during the group’s meeting last week. Photo/Stephen Otage
What you need to know:
- The Indian Association has also been sending Ugandan children to India for free heart surgeries, the last being the 100 children they offered slots to commemorate the 100 years of existence in Uganda in 2022.
The Rotary Club of Muyenga has secured a partnership with colleagues in India to start sponsoring Ugandan children to go for heart surgery.
While dispatching the first batch of 17 beneficiaries for surgeries at the weekend, Mr Simon Batte, the president Rotary Club of Muyenga, said the initiative was started by Mr Emmanuel Katongole, the former Rotary district 9213 governor, and the former Rotary International president, Shekhar Mehta.
“… Katongole had a meeting with our partners in India who offered 30 slots for surgery on Ugandan children at no cost. Uganda Heart Institute has many of such children and they have helped us screen and given them referral to India,” he said.
He added that they have so far screened and cleared 17 children who are set to benefit from the project.
Asked why they are taking such a small number of children, Mr Batte said not all children with heart diseases require surgery.
He said the Uganda Heart Institute recommends the children who need the surgeries and once they are cleared, the facility helps the parents secure visas to India while the parents get the passports themselves.
Mr Micheal Mpiima, the chairperson of service projects at the Rotary Club of Muyenga, said the organisation will pay for the air tickets for the patients and their caretakers, accommodation in India and transport and feeding while in the country.
He added that the club is also sponsoring a $2 million (Shs7.6 billion) malaria eradication project in Soroti and Katakwi districts, which is being implemented by World Vision.
Other projects are construction of a $210m (Shs793 billion) hospital in Kabule, Mityana District, a $100,000 (Shs377.7 million) water project at Kabule Church of Uganda Primary School also in Mityana and have secured $140,000 (Shs528.8 million) to support the Ministry of Education in skilling teachers to implement the lower secondary school curriculum.
Mr Mpiima said this is the first Ugandan Rotary Club to sponsor Ugandan children to undergo surgeries in India.
Background
The Indian Association has also been sending Ugandan children to India for free heart surgeries, the last being the 100 children they offered slots to commemorate the 100 years of existence in Uganda in 2022.
