The Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) has installed new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) equipment worth 8.7billion shillings. This is meant to among others cut referrals abroad and also handle the long waiting numbers for people who need surgery.
The money which was donated by the government of Hungary has enabled the institute upgrade from initially four ICU beds to twelve beds now in addition to twelve High Dependency Unit Beds.
According to Dr Peter Lwabi, the Deputy Director at the UHI, the consignment consists of smart beds, ventilators, specialized lab machines and shringe pumps that are able to accurately dispense medicines in very sick patients.
While the institute currently refers 15% of the cases they receive annually abroad, Lwabi says the new equipment will cut that number as specialists will now be more empowered to handle more cases at a go. Previously he says, they were restricted to only three surgical procedures at a time where admitted patients have to stay for about three days.
Speaking at the inauguration event, Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said the equipment come in handy considering the long waiting numbers especially of children who are born congenital heart disease and need surgery. Up to 8000 children currently need care.
Generally, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are on an increase and a third of all NCD deaths currently happening are due to heart disease.
In Uganda, there is an estimated 27% chance that an adult aged between 30 and 70 will succumb to an NCD with heart disease accounting for 9%. Experts say early diagnosis and treatment can go along way in cutting these numbers.
Now, at full capacity with the upgrade, the institute anticipates an increase in the number of surgical and interventional procedures performed annually from 500 to a thousand procedures leading to a decreased turn-around time in cardiac care services.
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