Let us do more to improve healthcare
Left to Right: The Executive Director of the Uganda Cancer Institute, Dr Jackson Orem, the Head of Molecular Imaging and Therapy Department, Dr Godfrey Osinde, and the Head of Clinical Trials at the institute, Dr Annet Nakaganda, show journalists the new cancer scan
machine at the Uganda Cancer Institute yester- day. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- Needless to say, there’s need to increase funding to the Institute for acquisition of more high-tech machines, build and equip regional centres and also employ more staff
Yesterday, we reported that Uganda Cancer Institute has acquired a Shs16 billion high-tech machine to enhance diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Medical experts are able to detect and trace cancer cells, even in the bones that are considered hard-to-reach areas using the machine, a Symbia Intevo Bold Eco SPECT-CT scanner.
This is great news. However we need more. The institute has faced challenges in the past, ranging from inadequate space and equipment and understaffing. By providing high-tech machinery, the government is commended for taking steps towards improving cancer care in the country.
Two years ago, we reported that the institution, founded in 1967, had 100 beds. But for it to serve the entire country, the institute needed to expand to a 365-bed facility, build and operationalise four regional centres and the East African Centre of Excellence and a testing centre, which is vital for early detection and diagnosis.
Since then, the institute has opened two regional centres in Gulu and Mbarara to serve the northern and western regions respectively.
These two regional centres or the regional referral hospitals in their areas need such high-tech machines to ease the work of medical experts in detecting and treating cancer and will also decongest the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala City.
Dr Jackson Orem, the executive director of the Uganda Cancer Institute, in 2023 told this publication that the best way to solve most, if not, all the challenges at the facility was for the government to provide at least Shs2 trillion in one tranche. This money would cater for testing centres, expansion projects and the regional centres.
For instance, the construction and equipping of the regional centres in Arua and Mbale would each require around Shs500 billion. These projects are yet to kick off or get completed due to financial constraints.
Needless to say, there’s need to increase funding to the institute for acquisition of more high-tech machines, build and equip regional centres and also employ more staff such as oncologists to reduce the number of people seeking cancer treatment abroad, improve detection rates and also curb the number of cancer deaths by early detection and proper treatment.
The institute states that the survival rate for cancer patients is at 20 percent because several patients visit the institute when the disease is at an advanced stage and also because the facilities are limited.
Of the 36,000 people who develop cancer every year in Uganda, the institute indicates that more than 20,000 succumb to the disease. Some of the 20,000 die without receiving proper diagnosis and treatment. We need to see this change.
