Lubaga Hospital ready for organ transplants
The corridor leading to the Dr Rita Moser Transplant Theatre at Lubaga Hospital that was commissioned yesterday. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
This is after commissioning the Dr Rita Moser Transplant Theatre that was built at a cost of Shs1 billion.
Ugandans who have been spending exorbitant amounts of money on organ transplants abroad can now breathe a sigh of relief following the commissioning of similar services in the country.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Shs1 billion Dr Rita Moser Transplant Theatre at Lubaga Hospital yesterday, the Director General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Henry Mwebesa, revealed that health facilities such are Lubaga and Mulago National Referral Hospital will soon commence organ and tissue transplants.
He said they are just now awaiting on the Uganda Organ Donation and Organ Transplant Council to assess the facility to ensure that it is up to standards.
Some of the requirements for organ transplant centres include two theatres; one for the donor and the other for the patient; a standard intensive care unit, recovery room, laboratories and specialists to perform transplants.
Dr Mwebesa said organ transplants done at Mulago will be free of charge while those in private hospitals will be done at a cost less than what Ugandans have been spending abroad, which are in the range of Shs60m.
He, however, said the hospitals that are ready to undertake organ and tissue transplants will do so after they have been cleared by the Organ Transplant Council to be set up by Health minister.
“A law was put in place and assented to by the President on March 15; it became effective on August 1, 2023, but we must have a council to assess the readiness of these hospitals,” Dr Mwebesa said.
He said the experts who will man the council have already been proposed and they await approval by Cabinet.
He said the new development will relieve Ugandans of the high cost of organ transplants abroad.
“I have been clearing about six patients who need to undergo kidney transplants on a weekly basis and from the documents, I see one patient requires $ 17,000 (about Shs60m) for the transplant alone,” Dr Mwebesa said.
He also said the strict guidelines in the organ transplant law will help to prevent any malpractices.
Dr Michael Okello, the director of the Organ Transplant Theatre at Lubaga Hospital, said once they are cleared by the council, they will offer kidney, liver, and cornea transplants.
Dr Okello said since the current law requires organs to be extracted from living donors, the cornea will be imported until government grants them permission to harvest corneas from dead bodies.
He said cost of transplants would be determined by management but that it will be lower than what they have been spending abroad.
Dr Julius Luyimbazi, the executive director of Lubaga Hospital, said a big number of patients in various hospitals are on dialysis, which is quite expensive, and that bringing organ transplant services closer would relieve them from the burden.
Kampala Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere said organ transplants done abroad have been a preserve for the wealthy Ugandans and that the new initiative would enable the poor to access similar services in Uganda.
Dr Frank Asiimwe, a consultant urologist and transplant surgeon at Mulago National Referral Hospital, who doubles as the President of Association of Surgeons in Uganda, said they would form a national team of surgeons that would work together to perform transplants.
