Divert Lubowa cash to private hospitals, says Ssenyonyi
The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Joel Ssenyonyi. PHOTO/ FILE
What you need to know:
- On his part, Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago stressed the need to equip hospitals to ease diagnostics.
The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, has said the government should consider supporting private hospitals to acquire state-of-the-art equipment to offer world-class health services to Ugandans instead of injecting billions of shillings into projects that take long to materialise.
Mr Ssenyonyi explained that if part of the money the government injected into the contentious Lubowa International Specialised Hospital of Uganda project had been allocated to some of the private hospitals to offer similar services, millions of Ugandan taxpayers would already have benefited.
“Some of the quarrels that we have in Parliament are around social services. More than Shs600b was injected in Lubowa specialised hospital and we were promised that we would have the best-specialised hospital in the region but up to now, not much is seen on the ground. How I wish part of this money went to Lubaga Hospital so that it could acquire a CT scan!” he said.
He was speaking at the fundraising drive for Lubaga Hospital’s CT scan held in Kampala last Thursday.
Justification
According to the Lubaga Hospital Executive Director, Dr Julius Luyimbaazi, they need Shs2b to upgrade from a four-slice (images) CT scan to that of at least 64 slices, capable of providing accurate results needed to offer the right treatment to patients.
Speaking at the same fundraising dinner, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, the National Unity Platform party president, suggested that CT scans should be available right from health centre IVs to increase access to such critical services.
Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago stressed the need to equip hospitals to ease diagnostics.
Prof Patrick Kyamanywa, the chairperson of the Lubaga Hospital board of directors, said modern medicine relies on accurate diagnosis.
“When the diagnosis is right, treatment is focused and right. The CT scan can help doctors to see the problem inside the body without performing surgery,” Mr Kyamanywa said.
The dinner raised Shs80.4 million for the facility.
