Mulago National Referral Hospital has announced plans to conduct kidney transplant surgeries in February, April, July, and October, as it works toward regularising and institutionalising its transplant programme as a routine service by 2027.
According to Dr Frank Asiimwe, a transplant surgeon at Mulago Hospital, the first cohort of patients scheduled for surgery in early 2026 includes Dr Jamirah Namusoke, Uganda’s first female orthopaedic surgeon.
Dr Namusoke, a consultant surgeon and Head of the Orthopaedics Department at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, had earlier appealed to the public to raise more than 200 million Shillings to undergo a kidney transplant abroad. However, Dr Asiimwe says Mulago has since invited her for a comprehensive assessment to determine her eligibility for transplantation locally.
“Provided they meet the necessary clinical criteria and terms, we are prepared to offer them the same high standard of surgical care provided to the 12 Ugandans we have successfully treated recently,” Dr Asiimwe said.
He added that if the assessment determines that Mulago is not the most suitable facility for Dr Namusoke, who also suffers from acute chest syndrome, as well as pelvic and femoral fractures, she will be referred to appropriate centres abroad.
“Patients choose their surgical facilities for various reasons, and we must respect those choices. I am confident our colleague is aware of the capabilities at Mulago, even as we continue to develop this nascent programme,” he said, noting that kidney transplantation is not an emergency procedure and that pre-operative screening remains a private medical matter.
Earlier, Dr Peace Bagasha, a kidney disease specialist at Mulago, told Uganda Radio Network (URN) that patients enrolled in the transplant programme, launched in December 2023, undergo a rigorous screening process.
The assessment, she explained, considers factors such as the patient’s age, ability to afford lifelong anti-rejection medication, the presence of comorbidities, and nationality, with the programme currently limited to Ugandan patients.
While Mulago continues to expand its transplant capacity, kidney failure remains one of the leading causes of medical referrals outside Uganda. Dr Ronny Bahatungire, the Commissioner for Clinical Services at the Ministry of Health, says four out of every ten referrals are related to organ transplantation.
Currently, an estimated 400 Ugandans are living with kidney failure and require a transplant. Most depend on dialysis, a costly blood purification procedure, to survive, hile others are on the verge of starting treatment.
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