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Joy as Masaka Hospital gets first CT scan
Masaka Regional Referral hospital emegency unit where patients in critical condition are admitted. PHOTO/ ISSA ALIGA.
What you need to know:
- A CT scan is used to identify a disease or injury within various regions of the body.
- Mr Swaibi Sulambaya, the spokesperson of patients at the hospital, tasked government to ensure that staffing issues at the facility are also addressed.
Masaka Regional Referral Hospital has secured a Computed Tomography (CT) Scan, the first of its kind in the area.
According to Dr James Elima, the hospital director, the CT scan machine, which has been donated by the Ministry of Health, will improve service delivery at the facility.
Dr Elima said expansion of the building, which is going to house the machine, is underway, adding that by December, the CT scan will be fully operational.
“For the first time, Greater Masaka area will have a CT scan. After installing it, there will be no more referrals of patients to Mbarara or Kampala as has been the case,” he said in an interview on Monday.
He explained the CT scan machine will attract the recruitment of experts to run it and medical schools in the region will also benefit.
“Even if we don’t have our own staff, availability of the CT scan will attract specialists that will come to teach the students,” he added.
A CT scan is used to identify a disease or injury within various regions of the body. The scan is used to detect tumours or lesions within the abdomen, identify heart disease or abnormalities, locate injuries, pulmonary embolisms (blood clots), clots leading to stroke, haemorrhage, excess fluid, and other conditions such as emphysema or pneumonia.
Masaka Hospital Principal Administrator Charles Tumusiime applauded the government for procuring the CT scan.
The purchase and installation of the 128 slice CT scan machine cost about 3b.
Mr Swaibi Sulambaya, the spokesperson of patients at the hospital, tasked government to ensure that staffing issues at the facility are also addressed.
“We are happy for the CT scan, but we also continue to demand that government posts more medics to our hospital ,” he said.
Last year, the Ministry of Health revealed that they had finalised plans to install CT Scan machines in all the 14 regional referral hospitals across the country ,but the project has been delayed due to limited funding. Last week, the management of St Francis Hospital, Naggalama, in Mukono District also announced they had secured a Shs2.7b CT scan that will serve the districts of Buikwe, Kayunga, Buvuma, Mukono and Luweero. The machine was procured in a partnership with Joint Medical Stores (JMS).
