Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has cried out to Arab Contractors who are in charge of constructing the new Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) in Naguru to be conscious as they work saying the facility is one of their deliverables as Uganda kicks off preparations for the 2026 General Elections.
The construction of a 250-bed capacity at the Uganda Heart Institute has been launched.
Speaking at the groundbreaking event, Health
Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng urged the contractors, Arab Contractors to be conscious
as they work saying the facility is one of their deliverables as Uganda kicks off
preparations for the 2026 General Elections.
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region and beyond”. //
Aceng was
speaking at the groundbreaking event where she revealed that the 250-bed
capacity facility includes a hospital with cardiac catheterization
laboratories, theatres and wards in addition to a heart disease research centre
is expected to be completed within two years.
According to
Dr John Omagino, the Institute’s Executive Director, the facility will sit on
ten acres and is being built using seventy million dollars in loans from the
Arab Bank for Economic
Development in Africa (BADEA) and the Saudi Fund for Development.
However, the building of this state-of-the-art facility had earlier faced a hurdle when an
entity called Tendo Investment claimed its ownership and presented a title for
it in 2022. Omagino says it was not until the President intervened that the institute
finally owned the land.
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and visiting faculty”. //
While it’s
scheduled to be completed in 2027, Omagino says they will give it another year
to monitor the works before launching it.
At the
event, however, Dr Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of
Health expressed concern about the rising prevalence of heart disease. She said
although the treatment centre is widening and will be able to accommodate more
numbers, there is a need to come up with a mechanism that promotes prevention as
treating heart disease is very pricey and yet can be controlled with simple
lifestyle practices.