The Ministry of Finance has signed a new loan agreement of USD 30 million to fund the construction of a new Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) which will be housed in Naguru.
The loan which is extended to the country by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) is meant to equip the institute whose construction has been budgeted to cost 73 million US Dollars. The loan was approved by parliament in August last year and SFD Chief Executive Sultan Al-Marshad says the money will specifically support the civil works, equipment and furniture for the Heart Institute.
The 222-bed capacity facility will sit on 10 acres of land. The plan is to have two fully equipped emergency admittance and care facilities, intensive care & emergency services covering catheterization procedure rooms, x-rays, and CT scans in addition to five fully-fledged clinical & research laboratories.
URN spoke to Dr John Omagino, the Executive Director of the Uganda Heart Institute on the sidelines of the signing event and he explained that the money is the last instalment they were waiting for the commencement date to be announced.
The Saudi Fund for Development has provided the biggest loan instalment for the project and the government of Uganda is providing three million US Dollars to co-fund. The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the OPEC Fund for International Development provided 20 million US Dollars each.
According to Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the new facility will come in handy as currently the facility at Mulago National Referral Hospital is overcrowded and not sufficient for the growing threat of cardiovascular diseases.
Each year, the Uganda Heart Institute conducts 500-600 surgeries leaving a high number on the waiting list due to inadequate equipment even though, they have over time developed capacity in terms of human resources to conduct tertiary surgeries which were previously referred abroad.
URN.