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.
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.
//Cue in:” Most patients are …..
Cue out: …….. is given accurately”. //
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.
//Cue in:” Before this we ……
Cue out: ……. Who need care”. //
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.
