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Busia ends 10-year wait for X-ray services
Tororo archbishop Emmanuel Obbo, leads a team to inspect the newly commissioned X-ray at Dabani hospital in Busia District on August 17, 2024. Photo/David Awori.
What you need to know:
- The JMS Executive Director, Dr Bildard Baguma, said Busia District and the entire region did not have an efficient working X-ray, the reason they partnered with the Catholic Church to deliver one.
For the last 10 years, residents of Busia District have had to cross to Kenya or hire an ambulance to take the sick to Mbale and Jinja Regional Referral Hospitals to access X-ray services.
This was after X-ray equipment at Masafu government-aided hospital which was donated by the Ministry of Health broke down and had not been replaced.
However, the residents’ long wait for a replacement ended on Saturday after a Shs500 million modern digital X-ray was acquired by Dabani Hospital in partnership with the Joint Medical Stores (JMS).
The JMS Executive Director, Dr Bildard Baguma, said Busia District and the entire region did not have an efficient working X-ray, the reason they partnered with the Catholic Church to deliver one.
He described the equipment as “modern and one of its kind in the country”, saying it is tele radiology-operated and allows radiologists worldwide to interpret the images and send feedback within an hour.
"We are aware that this country has very few qualified radiologists to look at X-ray images and interpret them, but with this facility, once an image has been taken, it will be accessible to all radiologists in Uganda and abroad,” Dr Baguma explained.
Busia District Health Officer (DHO), Dr Mathias Wabwire, said the X-ray will help patients access timely and quality services within a short time, adding that any successful treatment of patients begins with investigations, including X-ray services.
“Lack of it has been a challenge because patients in need of such services have been referred to Kenya or Mbale, after which they wait for a day or two to get their results,” he said.
He further explained that due to time lost in search for an X-ray, and having to wait for results, treatment is delayed which has a negative effect on the patient and the doctors managing the case.
The Archbishop for Tororo Diocese, the Rt Rev Emmanuel Obbo, expressed optimism with the development, saying it should be able to offer good service for those in need.
He added: “Most of our people in this area have been going to Tanaka Hospital in Kenya to seek X-ray services but now that we have one here, we pray they will be able to get the quality of the services they need within the shortest time possible.
“If we wanted to make money, we would have deployed this X-ray in Kampala or any other place, but to bring it here (in Busia) is because we want to help our people have the service at their doorstep.”
Ms Resty Ajambo, a resident of Butangasi Village in Masaba Sub-county, said when the new Musita-Namayingo-Busia road was commissioned, it has been prone to many accidents, especially boda boda, and Kenya or Mbale Regional Referral Hospital has been the nearest destination for the victims.
“To hire an ambulance to take a patient to a hospital in Mbale or Kenya, one had to pay between Shs100, 000 and Shs200,000 which is financially straining to the patients’ families,” she said on Sunday.
She added that a patient taken to Kenya was required to pay twice the amount compared to a Kenyan national.
