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MPs okay Shs285b loan for heart institute facility
Dr John Omagino, the executive director of Uganda Health Institute (leading team), shows a team from the Parliamentary Health Committee led by their chairperson, Dr Charles Ayume (right), its land in Nakawa, Kampala, on July 18, 2022. The management of the heart institute intends to construct a treatment centre on the land. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- Lawmakers note that controversies surrounding the land ownership can be resolved as the loan is processed.
Members of the Parliamentary Health Committee have approved a request by the government to acquire a $75m (Shs285b) loan for establishing a state-of-the-art heart surgery and treatment centre in Kampala.
Dr Charles Ayume, the committee chairperson, confirmed the development yesterday during the tour of the 10-acre piece of land in Naguru, Kampala, where the facility will be constructed.
The current Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) at Mulago Hospital is operating on about 1,000 square metres of land (a quarter of an acre), a space management said is limiting them from handling the rising number of patients with heart diseases.
Dr Ayume said in their assessment, the controversies over the land ownership in Naguru, specifically for the piece which was given to UHI, are small and can be resolved as the money is processed from the Arabian bank.
The loan is from Saudi Fund for Development, OPEC Fund and BADEA Fund, which are working in a consortium, according to information from the government.
The interest rate of the loan couldn’t be established by press time.
“This facility will save us from medical tourism abroad. But most importantly, any of us can become a patient, and so we shall need these services,” Dr Ayume told journalists and MPs during the tour.
He added: “We met last week on Wednesday. UHI is trying to process a loan of about Shs300b and as an end-user committee, we are mandated to listen to the story and whether it is justified that they should get the money. So we came down to ascertain whether this land exists so that we don’t just rely on the land title.”
Dr Ayume said they will summon people contesting the UHI land ownership such as Lukyamuzi investment so that the issues can be resolved.
The other part of the UHI land also extends into the one belonging to the Church of Uganda and Kampala Capital City Authority.
The UHI management said the issue is being addressed by the Uganda Land Commission.
The commission allocated the land to UHI and other developers under the directive of President Museveni.
Dr John Omagino, the executive director of the UHI, said only around two acres of the 10-acre land are being contested by “encroachers,” a challenge he said should not stop the development process as discussions continue.
“The current capacity is for 1,000 heart surgeries per year but this new facility will enable us to do 5,000 operations a year. Those 5,000 operations, if done abroad, we spend $100m (Shs378b) but if we do it here, we spend $25m (Shs94.6m). A unit cost is $20,000 (Shs75.7m) if taken abroad but here, a unit cost is $5000 (Shs18.9m), so we will save $75m (Shs285b), which is equivalent to the loan we are taking,” he said.
