Diverting money from Lubowa to private hospitals, says Ssenyonyi

Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, said the government should consider supporting private hospitals in acquiring state-of-the-art equipment to provide world-class healthcare services to Ugandans, instead of pumping billions of shillings into projects that take a long time to materialize.

Ssenyonyi explained that if some of the money the government pumped into Uganda’s controversial Lubowa International Specialist Hospital project had been allocated to some of the private hospitals to offer similar services, millions of Ugandan taxpayers would have already benefited.

“Some of the disputes we have in Parliament revolve around social services. More than Shs600b was injected into Lubowa specialized hospital and we were promised that we would have the most specialized hospital in the region, but so far not much is seen on the ground. How I wish some of that money went to Lubaga Hospital so they could get a CT scan!” he said.

He was speaking at the Lubaga Hospital CT scan fundraising campaign held in Kampala last Thursday.

According to the Executive Director of Lubaga Hospital, Dr. Julius Luyimbaazi, they need Shs2b to upgrade from a four-slice CT scan (images) to one of at least 64 slices, capable of providing accurate results needed to deliver the correct treatment to patients.

Speaking at the same fundraising dinner, Robert Kyagulanyi, chairman of the National Unity Platform party, suggested that CT scans should be available directly at health centers to increase access to these critical services.

Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago highlighted the need to equip hospitals to facilitate diagnosis.

Professor Patrick Kyamanywa, chairman of the board of directors of Lubaga Hospital, said modern medicine depends on accurate diagnosis.

“When the diagnosis is correct, the treatment is focused and correct. CT scan can help doctors see the problem inside the body without performing surgery,” Kyamanywa said.

The dinner raised Shs80.4 million for the facility.